Adjacent Words

myth definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the world view of a people

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Greek mythos Date: 1830 1. a. a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon b. parable, allegory 2. a. a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone; especially one embodying the ideals and institutions of a society or segment of society <seduced by the American myth of individualism — Orde Coombs> b. an unfounded or false notion 3. a person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence 4. the whole body of myths

Britannica Concise

Traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the worldview of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon. Myths relate the events, conditions, and deeds of gods or superhuman beings that are outside ordinary human life and yet basic to it. These events are set in a time altogether different from historical time, often at the beginning of creation or at an early stage of prehistory. A people's myths are usually closely related to their religious beliefs and rituals. The modern study of myth arose with early-19th-cent. Romanticism. Wilhelm Mannhardt, J. G. Frazer, and others later employed a more comparative approach. S. Freud viewed myth as an expression of repressed ideas, a view later expanded by C. G. Jung in his theory of the "collective unconscious" and the mythic archetypes that arise out of it. B. Malinowski emphasized how myth fulfills common social functions, providing a model or "charter" for human behavior. C. Lé vi-Strauss has discerned underlying structures in the formal relations and patterns of myths throughout the world. M. Eliade and R. Otto held that myth is to be understood solely as a religious phenomenon. Features of myth are shared by other kinds of literature. Origin tales explain the source or causes of various aspects of nature or human society and life. Fairy tales deal with extraordinary beings and events but lack the authority of myth. Sagas and epics claim authority and truth but reflect specific historical settings.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a traditional narrative usu. involving supernatural or imaginary persons and embodying popular ideas on natural or social phenomena etc. 2 such narratives collectively. 3 a widely held but false notion. 4 a fictitious person, thing, or idea. 5 an allegory (the Platonic myth). Derivatives: mythic adj. mythical adj. mythically adv. Etymology: mod.L mythus f. LL mythos f. Gk muthos

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Myth Myth, n. [Written also mythe.] [Gr. my^qos myth, fable, tale, talk, speech: cf. F. mythe.] 1. A story of great but unknown age which originally embodied a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; an ancient legend of a god, a hero, the origin of a race, etc.; a wonder story of prehistoric origin; a popular fable which is, or has been, received as historical. 2. A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable. As for Mrs. Primmins's bones, they had been myths these twenty years. --Ld. Lytton. Myth history, history made of, or mixed with, myths.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(myths) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A myth is a well-known story which was made up in the past to explain natural events or to justify religious beliefs or social customs. There is a famous Greek myth in which Icarus flew too near to the Sun. N-VAR 2. If you describe a belief or explanation as a myth, you mean that many people believe it but it is actually untrue. Contrary to the popular myth, women are not reckless spendthrifts. = fallacy N-VAR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Fable, legend, tradition. 2. Fable, invention, allegory, parable, fiction, fabulous story. 3. Falsehood, lie, untruth.

Moby Thesaurus

Marchen, Mishnah, Spiritus Mundi, Sunna, Talmud, Western, Western story, Westerner, adventure story, allegory, ancient wisdom, apologue, apparition, archetypal myth, archetypal pattern, bedtime story, brainchild, bubble, canard, chimera, cock-and-bull story, common law, concoction, creation, custom, delirium, detective story, eidolon, epic, extravaganza, fable, fabliau, fabrication, fairy tale, falsehood, fancy, fantasque, fantasy, fib, fiction, figment, folk motif, folk story, folklore, folktale, forgery, gest, ghost story, hallucination, history, horse opera, idle fancy, illusion, imagery, imagination, imagining, immemorial usage, insubstantial image, invention, legend, lie, lore, love story, maggot, make-believe, mystery, mystery story, mythology, mythos, nursery tale, parable, phantasm, phantom, prevarication, racial memory, romance, saga, science fiction, shocker, sick fancy, space fiction, space opera, story, suspense story, tall tale, thick-coming fancies, thriller, tradition, traditionalism, traditionality, trip, untruth, vapor, vision, whim, whimsy, whodunit, whopper, wildest dreams, work of fiction