legend
Americannoun
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legends
plural
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a nonhistorical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical.
- Antonyms:
- fact
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the body of stories of this kind, especially as they relate to a particular people, group, or clan.
the winning of the West in American legend.
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an inscription, especially on a coat of arms, on a monument, under a picture, or the like.
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a table on a map, chart, or the like, listing and explaining the symbols used.
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Numismatics. inscription.
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a collection of stories about an admirable person.
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a person who is the center of such stories.
She became a legend in her own lifetime.
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Archaic. a story of the life of a saint, especially one stressing the miraculous or unrecorded deeds of the saint.
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Obsolete. a collection of such stories or stories like them.
noun
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a popular story handed down from earlier times whose truth has not been ascertained
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a group of such stories
the Arthurian legend
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a modern story that has taken on the characteristics of a traditional legendary tale
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a person whose fame or notoriety makes him a source of exaggerated or romanticized tales or exploits
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an inscription or title, as on a coin or beneath a coat of arms
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explanatory matter accompanying a table, map, chart, etc
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a story of the life of a saint
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a collection of such stories
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Synonym Usage
Legend, fable, myth refer to fictitious stories, usually handed down by tradition (although some fables are modern). Legend, originally denoting a story concerning the life of a saint, is applied to any fictitious story, sometimes involving the supernatural, and usually concerned with a real person, place, or other subject: the legend of the Holy Grail. A fable is specifically a fictitious story (often with animals or inanimate things as speakers or actors) designed to teach a moral: a fable about industrious bees. A myth is one of a class of stories, usually concerning gods, semidivine heroes, etc., current since primitive times, the purpose of which is to attempt to explain some belief or natural phenomenon: the Greek myth about Demeter.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of legend
First recorded in 1300–50; 1900–05 legend for def. 4; Middle English legende “written account of a saint's life,” from Medieval Latin legenda literally, “(lesson) to be read,” noun use of feminine of Latin legendus, gerund of legere “to read”; so called because appointed to be read on respective saints' days
Explanation
A legend is a larger-than-life story that gets passed down from one generation to the next — like the legends of Beowulf, Robin Hood, or even Big Foot. Legend comes from the Latin legere, "to read." The Latin word was originally limited to written stories, but in English, legend lost that limitation. Often a legend lives on in the stories that people tell each other. A person can be a legend, too. Anne Frank is a legend for keeping a diary of hidden life in war time, and a less famous person, like a long-serving local teacher, can be a legend to neighborhood kids.
Vocabulary lists containing legend
Beowulf vocabulary
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Reading: Informational - Middle School
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Academy Awards, List 5
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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.
See Examples For:
How was this country legend able to walk the line so deftly?
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
Country music legend and cultural icon Dolly Parton died Tuesday at the age of 80.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Fashion designer Donatella Versace said: "The world has lost one of the kindest and most generous of souls, the greatest of story tellers and a true legend of music."
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Among them was a Parton cousin, Brent Allen, who said he grew up a stone's throw from the music legend on the hills of Locust Ridge above Sevierville.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
That’s a real proper legend that everybody knows.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
There will also be live performances from Faithless and Underworld, as well as global legends including Calvin Harris, Carl Cox and Martin Garrix.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
The book expands outward, creating an enormous system of stories orbiting the sisters’ lives and legends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Since 1979, the Lakers had been owned by the Buss family, which oversaw an era in which the team racked up championships and put all-time legends in purple and gold.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
One of those legends, 99-year-old Maybelle Blair, threw the ceremonial first pitch to San Francisco pitcher Kelsie Whitmore.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2026
They discussed legends, debating which were true and which were false, and which were somewhere between.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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.
