Myth
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɪθ
Alternative forms
- mythe rare or archaic
Origin
From Ancient Greek μῦθος (muthos, "word, humour, companion, speech, account, rumour, fable"). English since 1830.
Full definition of myth
Noun
myth
(plural myths)- A traditional story which embodies a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; a sacred narrative regarding a god, a hero, the origin of the world or of a people, etc.
- (uncountable) Such stories as a genre.Myth was the product of man's emotion and imagination, acted upon by his surroundings. (E. Clodd, Myths & Dreams (1885), 7, cited after OED)
- A commonly-held but false belief, a common misconception; a fictitious or imaginary person or thing; a popular conception about a real person or event which exaggerates or idealizes reality.
- A person or thing held in excessive or quasi-religious awe or admiration based on popular legendFather Flanagan was legendary, his institution an American myth. (Tucson (Arizona) Citizen, 20 September 1979, 5A/3, cited after OED)
- A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.
- Ld. LyttonAs for Mrs. Primmins's bones, they had been myths these twenty years.