title role

IPA/ˈtaɪ.təl ˌrəʊl/
IPA/ˈtaɪ.t̬əl ˌroʊl/

title role — noun

1. the part of the one character whose name is used as the name of a play, film, or

1.nounC1
Definition

the part of the one character whose name is used as the name of a play, film, or opera, and who is usually its central figure.

Example

Sayaka won the title role in the school's production of Annie.

win the title role in [work]

The director offered Christopher the title role in Hamlet last spring.

offer someone the title role in [work]

Common collocations
  • play the title role
  • win the title role
  • take the title role
  • cast in the title role
  • the title role in
Synonyms
  • lead role

    wider: any starring part, whether or not the character names the work

  • title character

    the person, rather than the acting part itself

  • namesake role

    rarer, more literary way of saying the same thing

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

play/take/win the title role

the title role in [work]

Usage Note

Used only when a single character shares the work's name (Macbeth, Cinderella, Othello); a lead part in a differently-named work is the 'lead role', not the title role.

Common Mistakes

She had the title role in Star Wars.
She had a lead role in Star Wars.
'Star Wars' is not a character's name, so there is no title role.
He played a title role in the musical.
He played the title role in the musical.
there is only one, so it takes 'the', not 'a'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All three point to the most important figure in a play or film, but they differ in scope and focus. 'Title role' is the narrowest: it only applies when one character's name is also the work's name, as with Hamlet, Carmen, or Cinderella. 'Lead role' is broader and far more common; it covers the starring part in any work, named after a character or not, so the hero of a film called The Journey has a lead role but no title role. 'Title character' shifts attention from the acting job to the person on stage or screen — you discuss the title character's feelings, but an actor plays the title role. In practice: 'Lucía landed the lead role in two films and the title role in a third, where she played the title character with great warmth.'

title role ↗lead roletitle character

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

A modern compound built from two everyday words. 'Title' came through Old French 'title' from Latin 'titulus', meaning a label or inscription, and by the 1800s was used for the name printed on a book or play. 'Role' arrived from French 'rôle', originally the roll of paper on which an actor's lines were written. The phrase 'title role' joined them in the theatre world to mean the part named in the work's own title.