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• myth
  myth

  noun

  a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature.
• myth.
  myth.

  abbreviation

  mythological.

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myth

¹ American  

[mith] / mɪθ /

noun

myths plural

1. a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature.

2. stories or matter of this kind.

   realm of myth.

3. any invented story, idea, or concept.

   His account of the event is pure myth.

   Synonyms:

   fantasy, fiction

4. an imaginary or fictitious thing or person.

5. an unproved or false collective belief that is used to justify a social institution.

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myth. ² American  

abbreviation

1. mythological.

2. mythology.

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myth ¹ British  

/ mɪθ /

noun

1. 1. a story about superhuman beings of an earlier age taken by preliterate society to be a true account, usually of how natural phenomena, social customs, etc, came into existence

   2. another word for mythology mythology

2. a person or thing whose existence is fictional or unproven

3. (in modern literature) a theme or character type embodying an idea

   Hemingway's myth of the male hero

4. philosophy (esp in the writings of Plato) an allegory or parable

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myth. ² British  

abbreviation

1. mythological

2. mythology

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Synonym Usage

See legend.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• countermyth
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• myths
  plural

Etymology

Origin of myth

First recorded in 1820–30; from Late Latin mȳthus, from Greek mŷthos “story, word”

Explanation

A myth is a story that’s told again and again and serves to explain why something is the way it is. A creation myth, for example, is a story that tells how the world came into being. You may have studied Greek or Roman myths in which gods and goddesses wage war and play tricks on each other. These myths are not necessarily true stories from the past — the main idea is that they explain certain ideas about the world and how people act. The story might be accepted as true and serve to explain some fact about the world, or it might be known to be made-up but nevertheless illustrates something about people or history.

Example Sentences

This will always be one of those essential movies about a particular national dream — not just a myth — of emerging from economic catastrophe and being reborn in the promised land of California.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 29, 2026

The word “narcissist” comes from the Greek myth of Narcissus, which tells the story of a young man so enamored of his image in a reflecting pool that he is unable to look away.

From Salon • Jun. 24, 2026

According to myth, Hedberg will be the first of his class to become an admiral.

From Slate • Jun. 24, 2026

Here’s a creation myth for the age of Darwin.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 11, 2026

This idea is the basis of the origin story of the United States, a story that, like a myth, has been retold for hundreds of years.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Related Words

• fable
• fantasy
• fiction
• illusion
• imagination
• legend
• lore
• parable
• superstition
• tale
• tradition