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movie star

movie star

172 1.0
A famous actor who plays leading parts in films
  • noun
  • /ˈmuːvi stɑr/
translation icon : estrella de cine
  • Tiffany Haddish, one of the biggest movie stars in the world right now.
  • pictures of movie stars
  • writers and movie stars
  • sports and movie stars

The governor at that time happened to be a movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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Examples

  • Many children dream of becoming a movie star when they grow up.

  • I was going to be a very famous movie star.

  • And, you know, movie stars love the attention.

  • And, you know, movie stars love the attention.

  • Oh, for this one, you are movie stars getting ready to be in an action movie.

  • My greatest desire is to be an American movie star.

  • You're about to be the biggest movie star in the world.

  • Who is the true movie star of our time right now?

  • Obviously, you're a movie star now in the hit film Nimoma.

  • Tiffany Haddish is a well-known movie star who has starred in several popular films.

Synonyms

star
vsmovie star
1.1

A very famous and admired performer like an actor or musician

is limited to actors who play main roles in films
celebrity
vsmovie star
480 2.3

A famous person who many people know and is often an actor or sports player

is specific to actors who lead in films
superstar
vsmovie star
187 2.8

A very famous and successful person in entertainment or sports

refers to a leading film actor without stressing extreme fame
celeb
vsmovie star
  • Slang
33 6.6

A famous person often from movies, music, or sports

is the neutral term for a famous actor in leading film roles
film star
vsmovie star
16 2.3

A famous actor or actress who plays lead roles in movies

is the same idea but uses the term films rather than movies
megastar
vsmovie star
6 3.2

A very famous and successful person, often in music or sports

describes a leading film actor but not necessarily hugely famous or successful

How Famous

superstar
187 2.8
movie star
172 1.0
leading man
28 3.9
extra
32 3.5

Surface Forms

movie star singular
movie stars plural

Morphology

movie + star

The meaning 'a famous actor or actress who plays leading roles in films' is directly and compositionally derived from 'movie' (film) + 'star' (celebrity). This regular noun–noun compound pattern is cross-linguistically common (e.g. Spanish 'estrella de cine'), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Movie star comes from the image of an actor who shines like a bright star on a movie poster or on the cinema screen. That's why today movie star means 'a famous actor in films'.