apocryphal
adjective
Did you know?
In Bible study, the term Apocrypha refers to sections of the Bible that are not sanctioned as belonging to certain official canons. In some Protestant versions, these sections appear between the Old and New Testaments. More generally, the word refers to writings or statements whose purported origin is in doubt. Consequently, the adjective apocryphal describes things like legends and anecdotes that are purported to be true by way of repeated tellings but that have never been proven or verified and, therefore, most likely are not factual. Both apocrypha and apocryphal derive, via Latin, from the Greek verbal adjective apokrýptein, meaning "to hide (from), keep hidden (from)," from krýptein ("to conceal, hide").
Example Sentences
Daniel Gross, Newsweek, 23 Feb. 2009 True or apocryphal, the story of the invention of the fried Ipswich clam—Mr. Woodman, faced with a huge vat of hot oil for his potato chips and a mess of clams harvested from the mud flats of his home town, reportedly had a eureka moment—is unabashed gospel for lovers of this regional specialty. Nancy Harmon Jenkins, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2002 There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, about Leonard Bernstein and tax returns. On the line that asked him to list his profession, Bernstein didn't write "conductor" or "composer," or "pianist," or "teacher." He simply wrote, "musician." Bari Walsh, Bostonia, Winter 2000-2001 an apocryphal story about the president's childhood Adam Bernstein, Washington Post, 8 Aug. 2022 One charming, if perhaps apocryphal, story claims that the first person to paddle out was none other than Duke Kahanamoku, in 1912. The New Yorker, 29 July 2022 Then there were the apocryphal stories about the money, ones that ran around the junior staff. Jamie Fewery, Harper’s Magazine , 22 June 2022 An apocryphal book of the Bible recounts the time Satan attempted to destroy the world’s original woman so that the human race would be unable to multiply. Pat Myers, Washington Post, 14 July 2022 The Ty Herndon story, the way it's told in Nashville, is almost apocryphal. Jason Sheeler, PEOPLE.com, 17 June 2022 The Twilight World begins with one of Herzog’s favorite framing devices: a possibly apocryphal story involving himself. Ryu Spaeth, The New Republic, 2 June 2022 Phillips named her book for a (probably apocryphal) story about Neel as a young mother. Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 8 May 2022 William Howard Taft, too often reduced to an apocryphal story of getting stuck in the White House bathtub, served as chief justice of the Supreme Court. Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Apr. 2022 See More Word History
apocrypha + -al entry 1
1583, in the meaning defined at sense 1
apocryphal
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- unauthentic
- speculative
- hypothetical
- fanciful
- legendary
- mythical
- fictional
- unhistorical
- fictitious
- fictionalized
- imaginary
- nonhistorical
- undocumented
- theoretical
- chimerical
- invented
- made-up
- exaggerated
- mythic
- fantastical
- imagined
- nonfactual
- theoretic
- pretend
- make-believe
- unsupportable
- chimeric
- fabulous
- embroidered
- fantastic
- nondocumentary
- insupportable
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- historical
- true
- factual
- literal
- actual
- real
- objective
- authentic
- hard
- documentary
- genuine
- nonfictional
- bona fide
- matter-of-fact
- right
- documented
- established
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of apocryphal are fabulous, fictitious, legendary, and mythical. While all these words mean "having the nature of something imagined or invented," apocryphal implies an unknown or dubious source or origin or may imply that the thing itself is dubious or inaccurate.
In some situations, the words fabulous and apocryphal are roughly equivalent. However, fabulous stresses the marvelous or incredible character of something without necessarily implying impossibility or actual nonexistence.
The synonyms fictitious and apocryphal are sometimes interchangeable, but fictitious implies fabrication and suggests artificiality or contrivance more than deliberate falsification or deception.
The words legendary and apocryphal are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, legendary suggests the elaboration of invented details and distortion of historical facts produced by popular tradition.
The meanings of mythical and apocryphal largely overlap; however, mythical implies a purely fanciful explanation of facts or the creation of beings and events out of the imagination.