strong antagonist
- noun
- Literature
:
fuerte antagonista
- In the story, the hero faced a strong antagonist who challenged him at every turn.
Examples
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The movie featured a strong antagonist whose cunning plans kept the protagonist on edge.
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As the plot unfolded, the strong antagonist revealed their true motives, complicating the hero's journey.
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Groups that had strong antagonists were also less successful.
Academic text (1990) -
So great was their emphasis on dialogue ("a partner is needed"), that they appeared at times to envy their Polish counterparts, who faced in the still-illegal Solidarity a strong antagonist but potential interlocutor.
Academic text (1991)
Synonyms
415
3.0
A person who goes against others or causes harm
272
3.3
A person who does very bad things, often the main bad character in a story
45
8.1
A powerful enemy or thing that causes someone's defeat
19
6.3
A person who opposes another person, often in a story or argument
8
4.8
A person who is someone's main enemy in a long rivalry
8
3.8
A bad character in a story who causes trouble for the hero, often in children's stories
5
7.8
A person's main enemy who often opposes them
2
6.8
A strong opponent who is hard to defeat and causes fear or respect
2
7.1
A woman who plays the bad person in a story
2
7.0
A person who is the main bad character in a story or film, often in children's stories
1
8.1
A person who plays a villain in a play or film
1
8.0
The main enemy in a story who is very powerful and evil
1
9.2
A very powerful evil enemy in stories or legends
1
7.7
A man who does cruel or wrong things in stories
The main enemy at the end of a story who the heroes must defeat
On the other side in a fight, game, or argument
How Formidable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'strong' simply intensifies 'antagonist', so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to an opponent who is powerful or effective. This follows a standard adjective + noun pattern with no idiomatic shift and is cross-linguistically transparent, making it understandable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Strong antagonist creates the image of a very strong antagonist standing in the hero's way and pushing back against them. That's why it means 'a character who powerfully opposes the hero'.