mythopoeic

American  

[mith-uh-pee-ik] / ˌmɪθ əˈpi ɪk /

Also mythopoetic

adjective

1. of or relating to the making of myths; causing, producing, or giving rise to myths.

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mythopoeic British  

/ ˌmɪθəʊˈpiːɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to the composition of myths; productive of myths

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Other Word Forms

• mythopoeism noun
• mythopoeist noun

Etymology

Origin of mythopoeic

1840–50; < Greek mȳthopoi ( ós ) making tales ( mȳtho- mytho- + -poios making ( poi ( eîn ) to make + -os adj. suffix) + -ic

Example Sentences

Like most big cosmic ideas, this one has almost certainly been purloined, ornamented and abused more than once in the vast works of mythopoeic bricolage which DC and Marvel, America’s main comic-book publishers, have provided to the world over the past decades.

From Economist

It takes us back, she later wrote, to ‘‘the warrior, of some mythopoeic time before weapons were invented.’’

From New York Times

Stephanie Feldman’s debut novel, “The Angel of Losses,” is a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, winner of the Crawford Fantasy Award, and a finalist for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award.

From Salon

The whole so-called Celtic fringe, of areas in the west and north of Great Britain that were not invaded by the Saxons, is far more genetically diverse than its mythopoeic appellation suggests.

From Economist

She was raised partly on a commune, made her first pop album at 12, and was involved in punk rock and radical art collectives in her teens, in an island nation that within her own lifetime leapfrogged within from a mythopoeic sea-village culture to postmodern globalism.

From Slate