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legend

[ lej-uhnd ]
/ ˈlɛdʒ ənd /
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See synonyms for: legend / legends on Thesaurus.com

noun
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Origin of legend

First recorded in 1300–50; 1900–05 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

synonym study for legend

1. 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 WORDS FROM legend

pre·leg·end, noun, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH legend

fable, legend , myth (see synonym study at the current entry)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use legend in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for legend

legend
/ (ˈlɛdʒənd) /

noun

Derived forms of legend

legendry, noun

Word Origin for legend

C14 (in the sense: a saint's life or a collection of saints' lives): from Medieval Latin legenda passages to be read, from Latin legere to read
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
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