- apocryphal
- adjective Date: 1590 1. of doubtful authenticity ; spurious 2. often capitalized of or resembling the Apocrypha Synonyms: see fictitious • apocryphally adverb • apocryphalness noun
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.
apocryphal
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Apocryphal — 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
apocryphal — ► ADJECTIVE 1) widely circulated but unlikely to be true: an apocryphal story. 2) of or belonging to the Apocrypha … English terms dictionary
apocryphal — index assumed (feigned), disputable, fictitious, ill founded, spurious, untrue Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton … Law dictionary
apocryphal — (adj.) 1580s, of doubtful authenticity, from APOCRYPHA (Cf. Apocrypha) + AL (Cf. al) (1). Middle English had apocrive (late 14c.) in same sense … Etymology dictionary
apocryphal — mythical, *fictitious, legendary, fabulous Analogous words: questionable, dubious, *doubtful Contrasted words: genuine, *authentic, veritable, bona fide … New Dictionary of Synonyms
apocryphal — [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
apocryphal — [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
apocryphal — [[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
apocryphal — 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
apocryphal — [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
apocryphal — adjective an apocryphal story about a famous person or event is well known but probably not true: Washington s apocryphal phrase: Father, I cannot tell a lie … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
