myths

noun

plural of myth
1
as in legends
a traditional but unfounded story that gives the reason for a current custom, belief, or fact of nature according to an ancient Greek myth, humans acquired fire from Prometheus, a Titan who had stolen it from heaven

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in mythologies
the body of customs, beliefs, stories, and sayings associated with a people, thing, or place over the years Davy Crockett evolved from an actual person to one of the great figures of American myth

Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in illusions
a false idea or belief the idea that alligators can live in the sewers of New York is just a myth

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of myths But myths don’t need receipts, and this one has endured for nearly a thousand years. — Michele Metychall, Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 July 2026 One of the biggest myths about the Boston Tea Party revealed. — FOXNews.com, 30 June 2026 After all, the best myths take our normal heroes-and-villains binary and punt it into a million pieces. — Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 6 July 2026 Many myths persist about hearing aids, which is why audiologists spend so much time talking not just to patients, but to the people around them. — Angela Haupt, Time, 29 June 2026 Despite numerous myths, a cat's fur color does not impact its personality traits. — Madeline Gunderson, USA Today, 5 July 2026 Effective public speaking is crucial for personal branding and career advancement, a skill anyone can develop by replacing common myths with empowering mindsets. — William Arruda, Forbes.com, 26 June 2026 Blending historical facts and patriotic myths, the works offer a vibrant, playful and sometimes absurd look at events like the signing of the Declaration of Independence and Washington crossing the Delaware. — Joe Yogerst, CNN Money, 26 June 2026 The musical, written by Anaïs Mitchell and directed by Rachel Chavkin, reimagines two ancient Greek myths to tell the tragic love stories of Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone. — Raven Brunner, PEOPLE, 2 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for myths
  1. legends
  2. mythologies
  3. illusions
  4. fables
  5. folklores
  6. delusions
  7. traditions
  8. errors
Noun
  • Like Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed fighting to exhaustion, the two aging legends will look to do the same with a round-of-16 spot on the line.
    — David Hickey, NBC news, 2 July 2026
  • Now, Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon, two WNBA legends, will serve as general managers and select their rosters among the 22 All-Stars who get the opportunity to represent their teams in Chicago.
    — Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 2 July 2026
Definition of legends
Noun
  • The work interweaves South and Southeast Asian mythologies and histories with Western cultural touchstones—from canonical artists to sacred texts—often with a deliberate sense of unease.
    — Tessa Solomon, ARTnews.com, 23 June 2026
  • America has its own mythologies of masculine desire, and many of them are worse.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 May 2026
Definition of mythologies
Noun
  • Presented Out of Competition at the 1967 edition of Venice, Deadly Sweet takes it cue from a brief encounter between a disenchanted man and a girl with no illusions in the wake of the murder of a nightclub owner in London.
    — Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 29 June 2026
  • Perhaps because of this aesthetic of illusions, the earnest state pride evident in some of the pavilions turns out to feel especially delightful.
    — Kelsey Ables, The Atlantic, 27 June 2026
Definition of illusions
Noun
  • Explore the Wild West from the back of a rickety wagon as characters share famed fables about Paul Bunyan, Babe the Blue Ox, Pecos Bill, John Henry and Hekeke.
    — Lesly Gregory, AJC.com, 1 July 2026
  • My dad’s stories about his grade-school experience felt like dark fables, peppered with slurs hurled at him by classmates.
    — Rachel Tepper Paley, Bon Appetit Magazine, 1 July 2026
Definition of fables
Noun
  • The kallikantzaroi are a group of blind, black goblins who live underground during most of the year sawing at the world tree – a motif throughout various folklores that connects the heavens to the Earth.
    — Carlie Procell, USA Today, 20 Dec. 2025
Definition of folklores
Noun
  • In one case, the Jupiter family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Google, saying the company’s chatbot, Gemini, contributed to their son’s death by fueling severe delusions and eventually coaching him through taking his own life.
    — Laurie Mermet, Sun Sentinel, 6 July 2026
  • His fears were rooted in delusions that also touched on the nation’s fentanyl crisis and the war in Ukraine, according to court testimony.
    — Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 6 July 2026
Definition of delusions
Noun
  • Discoveries unearthed in a cave in what’s now Turkey indicate the two groups did not merely cross paths but may have shared some cultural traditions, making similar tools and collecting the same kind of shell.
    — Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 7 July 2026
  • The world’s biggest sporting event placed a spotlight on one of America’s most uniquely complicated economic traditions—now is the time to simplify it for everyone who has a seat at the down at the table.
    — Doug Melville, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
Definition of traditions
Noun
  • The measurements auto-populate the quote, eliminating the transcription errors and ruler mistakes that have plagued the industry for decades.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 5 July 2026
  • Without an operator, the consequences of errors are much greater.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 5 July 2026
Definition of errors

Browse Nearby Words

mythos
myths
my word
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Myths.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/myths. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on myths

Nglish: Translation of myths for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of gambol

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All