the stuff of legend

idiomatic phrase

variants or less commonly the stuff of legends

1

: someone or something that is told about in legend

Dragons are still the stuff of legend. But in Slovenia, a bizarre, cave-dwelling … salamander serves as a worthy, real-life stand-in.

—Olivia Lowenberg

2

: someone or something that is very famous or memorable

Earlier that summer, Saito faced off with Tanaka in Japan's national high school championships, which are at least the equivalent of March Madness in the United States. Their battles were the stuff of legend, but Saito's team won and he struck out Tanaka for the final out of the deciding game.

—Anthony Rieber

For those of us who ran around in it, the blizzard of '78 was the stuff of legend, an unrelenting force of nature that smacked Boston upside the head for about a week.

—Bob Flaherty

The contest between ruling authorities and peasants over whether or not martyrs would be commemorated could itself become the stuff of legends.

—Anne Walthall

Examples of the stuff of legend in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Musashi was a legendary swordsman and undefeated in combat, so much so that his duels with other samurai are the stuff of legend. —Ollie Barder, Forbes.com, 11 June 2025

But his run with The Simpsons is the stuff of legend. —Erik Pedersen, Deadline, 30 May 2025

His performance in the 2016 postseason was the stuff of legend, a 6-foot-7, slider-slinging android sent from Planet Whiff to destroy every hitter in his path. —Zack Meisel, New York Times, 30 May 2025

The Born to Be Wild needle drop as the film’s central bikers hit the dusty trail going east to New Orleans is the stuff of legend. —Paul Fitzgerald, Rolling Stone, 5 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1919, in the meaning defined at sense 1