variants
also urban myth
as in hearsay
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Recent Examples of urban legend
The horror feature draws on a Vietnamese urban legend about a cursed Saigon apartment block from the 1990s, following an estranged young man who returns home to discover his mother is possessed.
—
Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 13 May 2026
As Dyer notes, the essence of an urban legend is that it’s always told at a remove; this happened to a friend of mine… In this case, the third party might have been the person who convinced Cox his attacker was a giant squid.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 3 Apr. 2026
Lots of small, family-owned and run Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Chinese refugee businesses there, alongside a long-standing Greek restaurant and a German restaurant with an urban legend about being haunted, and now, some Latinx businesses, a Jamaican restaurant, a Somali restaurant.
—Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026
One of the strangest threads is a recurring motif of a disembodied hairy leg, apparently a local urban legend, and useful metaphor in times of oppression.
—Lindsey Bahr, San Francisco Chronicle, 9 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for urban legend
Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 13 May 2026
As Dyer notes, the essence of an urban legend is that it’s always told at a remove; this happened to a friend of mine… In this case, the third party might have been the person who convinced Cox his attacker was a giant squid.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 3 Apr. 2026
Lots of small, family-owned and run Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Chinese refugee businesses there, alongside a long-standing Greek restaurant and a German restaurant with an urban legend about being haunted, and now, some Latinx businesses, a Jamaican restaurant, a Somali restaurant.
—Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026
One of the strangest threads is a recurring motif of a disembodied hairy leg, apparently a local urban legend, and useful metaphor in times of oppression.
—Lindsey Bahr, San Francisco Chronicle, 9 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for urban legend
Recent Examples of Synonyms for urban legend
Noun
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District Attorney James Stainton objected that the answer would call for hearsay.—
Emerson Clarridge,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
28 Apr. 2026
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Rather than operating on hearsay or memory, both of which are highly fallible, a flowchart outlines precisely what each section of a team is doing and allows everyone to work together in greater synchrony.—
William Jones,
USA Today,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
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While these instruments might be heard loudly on the streets, they have been banned at the World Cup this year in Mexico to prevent excessive noise.—
Michael Rios,
CNN Money,
7 June 2026
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From noise-cancelling headphones to cozy travel wraps, here are the seven travel essentials worth splurging on, according to a luxury travel agent.—
Jasmine Gomez,
Travel + Leisure,
6 June 2026
Noun
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Questions about the rumors eventually reached Pixar executives.—
Bryan West,
USA Today,
5 June 2026
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However, rumors surrounding the incident quickly began swirling with some in Dorit's personal circle questioning the legitimacy of the reports.—
Colson Thayer,
PEOPLE,
4 June 2026
Noun
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And the May jobs report will be released today, with economists expecting nonfarm payrolls to show that just 80,000 jobs were added, marking a step down from the average of 150,000 over the prior two months.—
Katie Foley,
CNBC,
5 June 2026
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That year, Georgia was ranked as the worst-performing state in a Postal Service service performance report for the second quarter of 2024 that tracked transit time for mail delivery.—
Dan Raby,
CBS News,
5 June 2026
Noun
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The menu is identical across locations, showcasing dishes found in regions along the 41st parallel.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
5 June 2026
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Stick to dishes that are cooked hot in front of you, and be cautious with raw vegetables and tap water in places where the local water isn’t considered safe.—
Lauren Schuster,
Sacbee.com,
4 June 2026
Noun
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During Season 1, Santos — who, like Briones, is half-Filipino — surprised nurses Princess (Kristin Villanueva) and Perlah (Amielynn Abellera) by chiming in on their gossip session in Tagalog.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
3 June 2026
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Then came last year’s The Most Dear and The Future, a slender collection of tracks that straddled a line between pop, ambient, folk, and dance with an air of rustic mysticism that seemed to travel through music circles like gossip bursting from localized containment.—
Jeff Ihaza,
Rolling Stone,
2 June 2026
Noun
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The talks are deadlocked over $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets, a top official previously told CNN.—
Dalia Abdelwahab,
CNN Money,
7 June 2026
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The day before Putin speaking at the conference rejecting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's offer of face-to-face talks.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
7 June 2026
Noun
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There is the visual memory of the shelves of books, but also an intimation of the weight, the heft of all the words in them.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
12 May 2026
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The intimation seems to be that there might even be a human being hidden inside Daisy’s dossier.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
6 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Urban legend.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/urban%20legend. Accessed 9 Jun. 2026.
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