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What is "myth"

Crossword clues for myth

myth
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
myth
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
dispel...myth
▪ We want to dispel the myth that you cannot eat well in Britain.
myths and legends
▪ I read and reread the Greek myths and legends.
shatter a myth (=show that an idea was completely wrong)
▪ Economic studies have shattered the myth that population growth is bad for a nation’s economy.
urban myth
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
ancient
▪ Apples crop up everywhere from the dinner table to our most ancient myths and legends.
▪ The theme is usually an ancient myth, belonging to the city or family to which the victor has brought new glory.
▪ Balor An ancient Celtic myth explained the puzzle of creation through the story of Balor.
great
▪ One of the greatest myths in modern politics is that campaigns are too expensive.
▪ There are a great number of myths that constantly need to be laid about school dinners.
▪ In all great art, myth is reborn.
▪ Many tales have been handed down and a great number of myths have been created around his memory.
national
▪ It was an understandable choice in an age of burgeoning national myths.
▪ Along with the national myth comes a rich tradition of hagiography.
old
▪ Killing off old information or myths is extremely difficult.
▪ The Biblical story does more than turn the older myth on its head.
▪ Lind has written a polemic, provocative and engaging and infuriating to read, and useful when it blows up old myths.
▪ Yet fiercely we cling to old myths that give comfort-justice is out there.
▪ Yet the old myth of the entrepreneurial hero remains powerful.
▪ Such treatment of an old myth is typical not only of Pindar but of his time.
pagan
▪ When missionaries first reached Santa's native Lapland, they found a thriving pagan myth of reindeer flight.
▪ Rape is a staple in pagan myth, and killing still more commonplace.
▪ Stone monuments from tenth and eleventh century Northumbria sometimes contain scenes from pagan myth and legend.
▪ Even in translation, strange to say, pagan myth is little-read today.
▪ Primitive and Pagan myth comprise the East and West winds of mythology.
▪ We have every reason to be grateful for both sorts, as well as for pagan and primitive myth.
▪ This, together with the re-emergence of pagan myth in general, fostered the full sunshine of the High Renaissance.
▪ Namely, the inevitable decline of pagan myth.
popular
▪ Contrary to popular myth Darwin was not thunderstruck by the theory of evolution during his voyage on the Beagle.
▪ In addition, peo-ple have new questions, arising as often from media reports of scientific studies as from popular myth.
▪ Contrary to popular myth, women have gained very little over the last ten years-and lost a lot.
▪ Other popular myths also fail to withstand close scrutiny.
▪ In fact, the Great and Good are not nearly as changed as popular myth would have it.
▪ Contrary to the popular myth, Galileo seems to have performed few experiments in mechanics.
▪ One popular myth needs, perhaps, to be dispelled at this stage.
▪ Taxing poverty Popular myth has it that poor peasants and casual workers in the Third World do not pay tax.
urban
▪ Or is he just an urban myth?
▪ He lists a handful of false virus alerts and urban myths.
■ NOUN
creation
▪ What I have told you is a 50-year-old version of the creation myth.
▪ Now it had disappeared, even as Mary's Diseased Creation myth had prophesied.
▪ The laibon kicks off with a creation myth.
▪ All he knew of the early Daurog myth was the creation myth.
■ VERB
based
▪ Current test methods for accessing Average Seek Times are based on several myths.
▪ The pain of childbirth, she asserts, is based on male myths.
▪ This perception was partly based on myth.
▪ It is more likely that the cosmogonic myths are the foundation on which an anthropological perspective was based.
believe
▪ I should like the Minister to tell us whether he believes the myth about privatising the coal industry.
▪ Men who make a living working with their hands tend to believe the myth more than men with desk jobs.
▪ They believed in the myth and Diana could not bring herself to tell them the awful truth.
▪ But families believe in their myths for reasons more compelling than respect for the versatility of metaphor.
▪ And then people will believe the myth of Bartley, which was begotten by the myth of Jonah.
▪ People not only believed in myth, they lived by it.
create
▪ He breaks out of the group's culture and psychology by creating a myth.
▪ Every man, woman, and child creates myth / truth to a degree.
▪ It helps nobody if a law is seen to create myths - Contract Journal.
▪ But in his conclusions he manages only to create a new myth, which isn't useful at all.
dispel
▪ The intensive study of demographic records through the technique of family reconstitution has dispelled many myths.
▪ It further calls for discussion within the trade union movement on this question, with a view to dispelling the myths that surround homosexuality.
▪ To dispel another myth: we have not entirely evolved from this animal ability to use our senses for survival.
▪ In this respect there is sometimes a need to dispel some of the myths which surround alcohol.
▪ It aims at dispelling the myths about old age and at building a network of associations concerned with the issues of aging.
▪ Direct contact helps dispel myths and dissolves stereotypes.
▪ Before proceeding further it would perhaps be as well to dispel one or two myths.
explode
▪ First, they explode various current myths.
▪ The report explodes the myth that men are the bed-hopping rogues while the little woman waits at home.
▪ This series sets out to explode the myth that some are impossible to keep.
▪ At last, I thought, some one is willing to explode the myth that thin equals sexy!
▪ It explodes the myth prevalent among pupils at school that history graduates mainly become history teachers.
▪ It is therefore time to explode another myth.
▪ Unusual position though it is, let me defend Ratner by exploding a couple of myths.
perpetuate
▪ Let's set the record straight and stop perpetuating this myth.
▪ To say that wine-speak is an obfuscation is at best perpetuating one of many myths about wine.
▪ Without statistics to prove the theories daft, the opportunity remains to rely on the powers of suggestion to perpetuate the myth.
▪ If he includes other people's slivers, he may well perpetuate damaging myths about that person.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
explode the myth
▪ The report explodes the myth that pollution is only a problem for rich countries.
▪ At last, I thought, some one is willing to explode the myth that thin equals sexy!
▪ It explodes the myth prevalent among pupils at school that history graduates mainly become history teachers.
▪ The report explodes the myth that men are the bed-hopping rogues while the little woman waits at home.
▪ This series sets out to explode the myth that some are impossible to keep.
nail a lie/myth
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a ballet based on a Greek myth
▪ It's just a myth that divorced dads don't care about their kids.
▪ It is a myth that battered women deserve or want to be beaten.
▪ Opera combines myth, music, and drama.
▪ The myth tells of how the gods sent fire to the earth in flashes of lightning.
▪ The first myth about motherhood is that new mothers instantly fall in love with their babies.
▪ The heroes of myth all had some point of weakness.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And among all such positive forces, living myth stands first.
▪ Before proceeding further it would perhaps be as well to dispel one or two myths.
▪ But myths, folk tales, legends and, yes, religious stories are different.
▪ But her scenarios are without irony, studies of skin as flesh rather than repositories of myth and moral fable.
▪ However, neither myth nor truth stands alone in the objective sense.
▪ Instead, he has ambitiously attempted an updating of the Biblical myths that have always informed the act of literary creation.
▪ Some have concluded that the current-account deficit is a myth.
▪ This myth, it is apparent, exists in two aspects.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Myth

Myth \Myth\ (m[i^]th), 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.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
myth

1830, from French Mythe (1818) and directly from Modern Latin mythus, from Greek mythos "speech, thought, story, myth, anything delivered by word of mouth," of unknown origin.Myths are "stories about divine beings, generally arranged in a coherent system; they are revered as true and sacred; they are endorsed by rulers and priests; and closely linked to religion. Once this link is broken, and the actors in the story are not regarded as gods but as human heroes, giants or fairies, it is no longer a myth but a folktale. Where the central actor is divine but the story is trivial ... the result is religious legend, not myth." [J. Simpson & S. Roud, "Dictionary of English Folklore," Oxford, 2000, p.254]General sense of "untrue story, rumor" is from 1840.

Wiktionary
myth

n. 1 A traditional story which embodies a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; a sacred narrative regarding a god, a hero, the origin of the world or of a people, etc. 2 (context uncountable English) Such stories as a genre. 3 A commonly-held but false belief, a common misconception; a fictitious or imaginary person or thing; a popular conception about a real person or event which exaggerates or idealizes reality. 4 A person or thing held in excessive or quasi-religious awe or admiration based on popular legend 5 A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.

Related phrases:
WordNet
myth

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

Wikipedia
Myth (disambiguation)

A myth is, broadly, any worldview-based traditional story, or collection or study thereof:

  • Sacred narrative, which validates a religious system
  • Origin myth, which purports to describe the origin of some feature of the natural or social world
    • Creation myth, symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it
    • Etiological myth, intended to explain the origins of cult practices, natural phenomena, proper names and the like
  • Political myth, ideological explanation for a political phenomenon that is believed by a social group
  • Mythology, a body of myths (e.g., Greek mythology) or the academic discipline that studies myths
  • Fable
  • Folklore, a broad body of cultural traditions
    • Folkloristics, the formal, academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore
  • Legend, narrative that is perceived as within human history with certain qualities of verisimilitude
  • Urban legend, contemporary legend or modern story with motivating significance

Myth may also refer to:

  • Myth (video game), a 1989 text adventure
  • Myth (series), a series of real-time tactical computer games, including:
    • Myth: The Fallen Lords
    • Myth II: Soulblighter
    • Myth III: The Wolf Age
  • The Myth (film), a film starring Jackie Chan
  • Myth: History in the Making, a platform game by System 3
  • The Myth, nickname of Cuban bodybuilder Sergio Oliva (1941– )
  • M.Y.T.H. Inc., a corporation in Robert Asprin's MythAdventures series
  • "Myth-" (TV), a prefix in the MythTV open source software project
  • Myth (warez), an underground PC game cracking group
  • Myth: The Xenogears Orchestral Album, an album by Yasunori Mitsuda
  • "Myth" A New Age music ensemble
  • "Myth" (song), a song by the American indie rock band Beach House, from the album Bloom
Myth (warez)

Myth was a warez group, focused on cracking and ripping PC games. Besides ripped games, the group also released trainers and cracked updates for games. Myth's slogan, "Myth, always ahead of the Class", was referring to the rival group class that existed from 1997 to 2004.

Myth (novel)

Myth ISBN 1-84386-267-0 is a dark erotic fantasy, the first novel by English writer R. J. Dent. It was published by Vanguard/Pegasus in July 2006. 1

Myth (video game)

Myth is a text adventure game by Magnetic Scrolls released in . This game was only released in limited numbers to members of the Official Secrets adventuring club. It is shorter than other Magnetic Scrolls adventures.

Myth (song)

"Myth" is a song by American dream pop band Beach House, from the band's fourth studio album, Bloom. The song was released as a single on March 26, 2012. The song surfaced on the band's website on March 7, 2012, before its commercial release.

Myth (series)

Myth is a series of real-time tactics video games for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. There are three main games in the series; Myth: The Fallen Lords, released in 1997, Myth II: Soulblighter, released in 1998, and Myth III: The Wolf Age, released in 2001. The Fallen Lords was developed by Bungie, and published by Bungie in North America and Eidos Interactive in Europe. Soulblighter was also developed by Bungie, and was published by Bungie in North America and GT Interactive in Europe. The Wolf Age was developed by MumboJumbo, and co-published by Take-Two Interactive and GOD Games for Windows and by Take-Two and MacSoft for Mac.

All three games received generally positive reviews. The Fallen Lords was especially lauded, and is credited as a defining title in the fledging real-time tactics genre. Reviewers praised its plot, graphics, gameplay, level design, online multiplayer mode, and differentiation from traditional real-time strategy games. It went on to win multiple awards from publications such as PC Gamer, Computer Gaming World, Computer Games Strategy Plus and Macworld. It was also a commercial success, selling over 350,000 units worldwide. Soulblighter was praised for improving on virtually every aspect of The Fallen Lords, with critics citing more detailed graphics, enhanced sound effects, more varied gameplay, better AI, and more intricate level design. It also sold very well, considerably outselling the original. The Wolf Age was seen as inferior to the two previous games, although it still garnered positive reviews. Reviewers praised the storyline, graphics and general gameplay. Major points of criticism included the many bugs in the Windows version, and a poorly implemented online multiplayer mode. Some critics felt the game was rushed to release, with several speculating the development team had not been given enough time to complete it satisfactorily.

The Myth series as a whole, and Soulblighter in particular, supported an active online community for over a decade after the official servers went offline. The first formally organized group of volunteer- programmers was MythDevelopers, who initially formed with the purpose of fixing the bug-ridden Windows version of The Wolf Age. MythDevelopers were given access to the source code of both the first games by Bungie and The Wolf Age by Take-Two. The most recently active Myth development group is Project Magma, an offshoot of MythDevelopers. These groups have worked to provide ongoing technical support for the games, update them to newer operating systems, fix bugs, release unofficial patches, create mods, and maintain online servers for multiplayer gaming.

Myth

A myth is a traditional or legendary story, collection or study. It is derived from the Greek word mythos , which simply means "story". Mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. A myth also can be a story to explain why something exists.

Human cultures usually include a cosmogonical or creation myth, concerning the origins of the world, or how the world came to exist. The active beings in myths are generally gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, or animals and plants. Most myths are set in a timeless past before recorded time or beginning of the critical history. A myth can be a story involving symbols that are capable of multiple meanings.

A myth is a sacred narrative because it holds religious or spiritual significance for those who tell it. Myths also contribute to and express a culture's systems of thought and values.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "myth".

A Corporal First might prove to have more combat acumen than a stately aristocrat from one of the old famifies--and such could not be permitted since it undermined the myth of aristocratic invincibility.

Over a century after coca was taxed by the clergy, we still find reports of its satanic influences, and it is just such reports that, blindly cited by later commentators, would help to propagate the myth of coca chewing as a dangerous, addictive habit - a myth that survives to this day.

Pauli and the Cavern 56 3 Up the Smoke 97 4 Beatles for Sale 144 5 Lennon and McCartney 184 6 Avant-Garde London 211 7 Making the Albums 268 8 Sergeant Pepper 293 9 The Walrus Was Paul 349 10 The Maharishi 396 11 Apple 431 12 The White Album 481 13 Let It Be 526 14 John 568 Afterword 597 Bibliography 618 The Beatles have become so surrounded by myth, fantasy and speculation that determining anything other than the basic facts of their lives has become virtually impossible.

But, lately, a lot of rumors have been spreading, especially an ancient beholder myth about the coming of the Cloakmaster.

They only know the beholder myth: that the coming of the Cloakmaster will herald the start of the Dark Times.

She had hoped to write a paper on biofeedback, autogenics, and the supernormal experience in myth.

These, Hresh thought, are the inhuman bowelless hjjks his people have always dreaded, the invulnerable and implacable insect-men of myth and fable and chronicle.

According to the most widely spread myth, Briareus and his brothers were called by Zeus to his assistance when the Titans were making war upon Olympus.

We will delve into the most ancient records, into the very myths of Dune, into the time of the Great Revolt, more commonly known as the Butlerian Jihad.

By his own childhood and experience, he had to know that those families were myths created by cinematographic poets and producers.

But to the cogitators, the only Cylons with whom one could have an actual conversation, Iblis was widely considered a myth.

In all these and similar legends, the bird is a relic of the cosmogonal myth which explained the origin of the world from the action of the winds, under the image of the bird, on the primeval ocean.

No religious or cosmogonic myth presents this character of universality.

Therefore in these myths, which are found over so many thousand square leagues, we cannot be in error in perceiving a reflex of their cosmogonical traditions already discussed, in which from the winds and the waters, represented here under their emblems of the bird and the dog, all animate life proceeded.

My research has filled me with respect for the logical thinking, high science, deep psychological insights, and vast cosmographical knowledge of the ancient geniuses who composed those myths, and who, I am now fully persuaded, descended from the same lost civilization that produced the map-makers, pyramid builders, navigators, astronomers and earth-measurers whose fingerprints we have been following across the continents and oceans of the earth.