myth

¹ American  

[mith] / mɪθ /

noun

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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Related Words

See legend.

Other Word Forms

• countermyth noun

Etymology

Origin of myth

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

Example Sentences

But even the Norris of Internet myth would have a hard time surveying the scale of Washington’s current fiscal disaster.

From The Wall Street Journal

We make the myth our own, in one viewing after another, one quotable line after another.

From The Wall Street Journal

There are all sorts of urban myths about what prompts the IRS to look more closely at your return, and most of them aren’t true.

From MarketWatch

The event, attended by more than 300 people, aimed to dispel myths and online misinformation as well as connect women with experts in pregnancy, fertility, menopause, endometriosis and neurodiversity.

From BBC

With all its horrors, the Iran-Iraq war also created the foundational myth of the Islamic Republic, cementing its power for the ensuing decades.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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