legend
Americannoun
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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:
Verified by Sotheby’s auction house, it was a warmup jacket worn by NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain at least three times.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Fans were able to see the pop legend while the traffic lights remained on red.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Hungary's Prime Minister Peter Magyar wants chess legend Judit Polgar to become the country's president as part of his political remake after forcing an ally of his nationalist predecessor Viktor Orban from office.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
Fox, a New Zealander who is the son of rugby legend, finished the tournament on a scorcher with four birdies in the final six holes to complete an out-of-nowhere victory for a 39-year-old journeyman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
John Faulkner, of the Lick Observatory in California, has suggested an interpretation of these remarks which flies in the face of the Newton legend, but closely matches Newton’s known character.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
Can Wales find new Commonwealth legends in Glasgow?
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
The childhood sports idols for my generation of cousins were Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela and boxing champ Julio César Chávez, not Mexican soccer legends Hugo Sánchez and Jorge Campos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
The 2008 European Championship winner was part of a side of La Liga legends that faced a team of all-stars from Iran in Tehran.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Beyond the legends, native mantises also play an important ecological role by serving as indicators of healthy, biodiverse ecosystems.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
The hallway walls are covered in posters of hip-hop legends.
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
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.
