apocryphal

  • 1Apocryphal — A*poc ry*phal, a. 1. Pertaining to the Apocrypha. [1913 Webster] 2. Not canonical. Hence: Of doubtful authority; equivocal; mythic; fictitious; spurious; false. [1913 Webster] The passages . . . are, however, in part from apocryphal or fictitious …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2apocryphal — ► ADJECTIVE 1) widely circulated but unlikely to be true: an apocryphal story. 2) of or belonging to the Apocrypha …

    English terms dictionary

  • 3apocryphal — index assumed (feigned), disputable, fictitious, ill founded, spurious, untrue Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton …

    Law dictionary

  • 4apocryphal — (adj.) 1580s, of doubtful authenticity, from APOCRYPHA (Cf. Apocrypha) + AL (Cf. al) (1). Middle English had apocrive (late 14c.) in same sense …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 5apocryphal — mythical, *fictitious, legendary, fabulous Analogous words: questionable, dubious, *doubtful Contrasted words: genuine, *authentic, veritable, bona fide …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 6apocryphal — [adj] questionable; fake counterfeit, doubtful, dubious, equivocal, false, fictitious, inaccurate, mythical, spurious, unauthenticated, ungenuine, unsubstantiated, untrue, unverified, wrong; concepts 570,582 Ant. authentic, doubtless, real, true …

    New thesaurus

  • 7apocryphal — [ə pä′krəfəl] adj. 1. of doubtful authorship or authenticity 2. not genuine; spurious; counterfeit 3. [A ] of or like the Apocrypha SYN. FICTITIOUS …

    English World dictionary

  • 8apocryphal — [[t]əpɒ̱krɪf(ə)l[/t]] ADJ An apocryphal story is one which is probably not true or did not happen, but which may give a true picture of someone or something. This may well be an apocryphal story... There is a story, probably apocryphal, about a… …

    English dictionary

  • 9apocryphal — adjective /əˈpɒkrɪfəl,əˈpɒkrəfəl,əˈpɑːkrɪfəl,əˈpɑːkrəfəl/ a) Of, or pertaining to, the Apocrypha. Many scholars consider the stories of the monk Teilo to be apocryphal. b) Of doubtful authenticity, or lacking authority; not regarded as canonical …

    Wiktionary

  • 10apocryphal — [16] Apocryphal is a ‘secondgeneration’ adjective; the original adjective form in English was apocrypha (‘The writing is apocrypha when the author thereof is unknown’, John de Trevisa 1387). This came, via ecclesiastical Latin, from Greek… …

    The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

Pages