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folklore

American  
[fohk-lawr, -lohr] / ˈfoʊkˌlɔr, -ˌloʊr /

noun

  1. the traditional beliefs, legends, customs, etc., of a people; lore of a people.

  2. the study of such lore.

  3. a body of widely held but false or unsubstantiated beliefs.

folklore British  
/ ˈfəʊkˌlɔː /

noun

  1. the unwritten literature of a people as expressed in folk tales, proverbs, riddles, songs, etc

  2. the body of stories and legends attached to a particular place, group, activity, etc

    Hollywood folklore

    rugby folklore

  3. the anthropological discipline concerned with the study of folkloric materials

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
folklore Cultural  

  1. Traditional stories and legends, transmitted orally (rather than in writing) from generation to generation. The stories of Paul Bunyan are examples of American folklore.

Other Word Forms

  • folkloric adjective
  • folklorist noun
  • folkloristic adjective

Etymology

Origin of folklore

1846; folk + lore 1; coined by English scholar and antiquary William John Thoms (1803–85)

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Online satire, memes, artificial intelligence-generated folklore and parody Bible verses have become the community’s preferred medium of resistance.

From Salon

This halo even has its own folklore - 'Ring around the Moon, rain real soon'.

From BBC

Colonel Sanders, who died in 1980, has also entered into baseball folklore in Japan.

From Barron's

They reached 19-0 at stumps and followed up with a performance etched in Ashes folklore.

From BBC

Two came the following day - Cook and Jonny Bairstow - but it was the wicket Agar did not take that has a place in Ashes folklore.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.