myth (mɪθ
)
Definitions
noun
- 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
- another word for mythology (sense 1) , mythology (sense 3)
- a person or thing whose existence is fictional or unproven
- (in modern literature) a theme or character type embodying an idea ⇒
Hemingway's myth of the male hero
- philosophy (esp in the writings of Plato) an allegory or parable
Word Origin
C19: via Late Latin from Greek muthos fable, wordSynonyms
View thesaurus entry=
legend,
story,
tradition,
fiction,
saga,
fable,
parable,
allegory,
fairy story,
folk tale,
urban myth,
urban legend,
=
illusion,
story,
fancy,
fantasy,
imagination,
invention,
delusion,
superstition,
fabrication,
falsehood,
figment,
tall story,
cock and bull story
Translations
- British English:
myth
A myth is an ancient story about gods and magic....the famous Greek myth of Medusa, the snake-haired monster.mɪθ NOUN ...the famous Greek myth of Medusa, the snake-haired monster.
- Spanish:
mito
nm
- French:
mythe
nm
- German:
Mythos
nm Mythen
- Chinese: 神话 n
- Arabic: أُسْطُورَةٌ n
- Portuguese: mito nm
- Russian: миф nm
- Croatian: mit nm
- Czech: mýtus nm
- Danish: myte nutr
- Dutch: mythe n
- Finnish: myytti n
- Greek: μύθος nm
- Italian: mito nm
- Japanese: 神話 n
- Korean: 신화 n
- Norwegian: myte nm
- Polish: mit nm
- Brazilian Portuguese: mito nm
- European Spanish:
mito
nm
- Swedish: myt nutr
- Thai: นิทานปรัมปรา n
- Turkish: efsane n
- Vietnamese: thần thoại n
Usage examples
A thousand winters hence, the great things of today will be treated as mere myth or legend.
, The Ancient and Solitary Reign (1990)But the penultimate paragraph of the Inside Science article propagates a myth.
New Scientist (1998)The good bits start when the filmmakers discover that the myth may have begun with a 1992 episode of Northern Exposure.
Globe and Mail (2003)There is a bizarre wine world myth that good wine needs a lifetime of learning to track down.
Glasgow Herald (2001)Clearly the art of myth imposes its own criteria upon how the world should be seen.
, ABORIGINE DREAMING: Introduction to the Wisdom and Thought of the Aboriginal Traditions of Australia (2002)