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Synonyms

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.

myth. 2 American  

abbreviation

  1. mythological.

  2. mythology.

myth 1 British  
/ mɪθ /

noun

    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

"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
myth. 2 British  

abbreviation

  1. mythological

  2. mythology

"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

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The team - led by Christine Close, a sculptor based in France - carved a kraken eating a boat as part of the myths and legends theme set by the competition organisers.

From BBC

It earned him prestige and access, and it fueled the myth of his intellectual genius.

From The Wall Street Journal

More: The small-cap ‘recovery’ is a myth built on unprofitable stocks.

From MarketWatch

But they helped to burnish the myth of intellectual genius that was also essential to his rise.

From The Wall Street Journal

In this remote region, foreigners are rare and myths persistent.

From Barron's

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.