myth
(mĭth)
[New Latin mȳthus, from Late Latin mȳthos, from Greek mūthos.]
noun
- A traditional, typically ancient story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serves as a fundamental type in the worldview of a people, as by explaining aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology, customs, or ideals of society: the myth of Eros and Psyche; a creation myth.
- Such stories considered as a group: the realm of myth.
- A popular belief or story that has become associated with a person, institution, or occurrence, especially one considered to illustrate a cultural ideal: a star whose fame turned her into a myth; the pioneer myth of suburbia.
- A fiction or half-truth, especially one that forms part of an ideology.
- A fictitious story, person, or thing: “German artillery superiority on the Western Front was a myth” (Leon Wolff)
