mythology

noun

my·thol·o·gy | \mi-ˈthä-lə-jē

plural mythologies

Definition of mythology

1 : an allegorical narrative

2 : a body of myths: such as

a : the myths dealing with the gods, demigods, and legendary heroes of a particular people

b : mythos sense 2 cold war mythology

3 : a branch of knowledge that deals with myth

4 : a popular belief or assumption that has grown up around someone or something : myth sense 2a defective mythologies that ignore masculine depth of feeling— Robert Bly

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Examples of mythology in a Sentence

We have been studying ancient Greek mythology. We compared the two cultures' mythologies. There is a popular mythology that he discovered the cause of the disease by himself.

Recent Examples on the Web

Motivated by the grief of his wife's death, neuropsychologist and writer Broks weaves a mesmerizing web of memories, his own research, Greek mythology and the writings of famous philosophers to muse on the nature of awareness. — Andrea Gawrylewski, Scientific American, "The True Point of Searching for Alien Life; the Misuse of Genetics and Other New Science Books," 3 July 2018 Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes Berkeley Rep presents both parts of Tony Kushner’s epic exploration of American politics, gay identity, and mythology, and a personal story of love and loyalty. — Chronicle Staff Report, San Francisco Chronicle, "Gay Pride events," 14 June 2018 Ghost Creepy costumes, carefully constructed mythology and lots of faux-pretentious metal bombast from the Swedish cult favorites, hitting Detroit as part of their Rats! — Brian Mccollum, Detroit Free Press, "Upcoming Detroit concerts: Sevendust, Spinners, LeAnn Rimes, Tom Jones, more," 10 May 2018 Though the series will reportedly be based on the original novels, The Witcher’s game incarnations are deeply influenced by Slavic mythology and, arguably, a dour Eastern European temperament. — David Z. Morris, Fortune, "'The Witcher' Is Coming to Netflix in 2020, Writer Confirms," 21 Apr. 2018 As Deborah Byrd reports for EarthSky, the valleys, crevices, craters and other features found on Charon have been named after figures in literature and mythology and includes legendary explorers and visionaries, both real and imaginary. — Julissa Treviño, Smithsonian, "Sci-Fi and Snakes Rule in New Official Names for Features on Pluto’s Largest Moon and Mercury," 17 Apr. 2018 The game was driven by a visceral Norse mythology and refined some of the concepts Lang originally explored in 2009's Chaos in the Old World. — Charlie Theel, Ars Technica, "Rising Sun—A cerebral board game of conquest, diplomacy, and betrayal," 10 Feb. 2018 The bonus is filling in that broader mythology, filling in that broader timeline of the MCU. — Todd Vanderwerff, Vox, "The folks behind Ant-Man and the Wasp on why Marvel doesn’t always have to save the world," 5 July 2018 Turner, now 32, as the leader of Britain's Arctic Monkeys, is a man who believes in mythology. — Eve Barlow, latimes.com, "Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner has gone to the moon and has an album to show for it," 4 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mythology.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for mythology

Middle English methologie, mithologie "exposition of a myth, book of myths," borrowed from Middle French & Late Latin; Middle French mythologie, borrowed from Late Latin mȳthologia (in Mythologiae, title of a myth compilation by Fulgentius, ca. 500), borrowed from Greek mȳthología "fiction, storytelling," from mŷthos "utterance, tale, myth" + -o- -o- + -logia -logy