Orde Coombs 
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Myth and Urban Myth
For a word so often applied to events or stories from long, long ago, myth has a remarkably recent history in the English language. The earliest evidence for the word is from 1830, well after the time when the events themselves are thought to have occurred (though it should be noted that the related words mythology and mythic are hundreds of years older – still not as old as Achilles, but not young, either!). One application of myth, however – in the phrase urban myth – is quite new. Curiously, an urban myth does not usually have anything to do with the city: it is simply “a story about an unusual event or occurrence that many people believe is true but that is not true.” An example would be the tale that Elvis Presley is still alive after spending decades in a witness protection program. The phrase urban myth has been used to describe such hoaxes since at least 1971.
Examples of myth in a Sentence
Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 2 Apr. 2026
Pregnancy is a time of excitement and anticipation, and mothers-to-be are often brimming with questions, many of them, unfortunately, based on myth and superstition.
—Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Apr. 2026
Ashland represents the culmination of a long journey exploring the magic of the American West and the myths that reside therein.
—Zac Ntim, Deadline, 2 Apr. 2026
The frontier myth—and its core belief that the West belonged only to white Americans—had become a national ideology by the 1880s and ’90s, ushering in an age of oppression and migration restriction.
—Literary Hub, 1 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for myth
Cite this Entry
“Myth.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/myth. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
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myth
noun
