deuteragonist: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for January 25 is:

deuteragonist \doo-tuh-RAG-uh-nist\ noun
1 : the actor taking the part of second importance in a classical Greek drama
*2 : a person who serves as a foil to another

Example sentence:
"She cut such an extraordinary figure that it was easy to overlook the fact that she was ... a deuteragonist rather than a main player." (Jonathan Meades, _The [London] Times_, September 2, 2000)

Did you know?
In the early days of Greek drama the idea of having a dialogue between two characters was conceived, and the players were designated "protagonistes" and "deuteragonistes" -- first actor and second actor. The deuteragonist's role was to highlight or emphasize, by contrast, opposing traits in the protagonist's character. The word "agonistes" itself, though in this context meaning "actor," originated as a word for a person competing at games. The combining form "deutero-," meaning "second," also shows up in "Deuteronomy," the name of the fifth book of the Old Testament. Consisting of a farewell address by Moses to the Israelites in which he reiterates laws he had communicated to them previously, it is thus his "second stating" of the law.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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