DictionaryAI

apocryphal

adjective
Sayuh-POK-ri-fuhl/əˈpɑːkɹɪfəl/UK/əˈpɒkɹɪfəl/

2 meanings of apocryphal

Practice

  1. 1
    probably untrueadjective
    Of doubtful truth or authenticity: of a story, widely told but probably untrue; of a work or saying, wrongly credited to someone and not accepted as genuine.

    The tale of the founder sleeping in his office for a month is almost certainly apocryphal.

    Most accounts of the coach's halftime speech are apocryphal, polished by years of retelling.

    UsageCommon with story, tale and quote, and often hedged: probably apocryphal, almost certainly apocryphal.

    Similardubious, spurious, fictitious, mythical, unverified

    Oppositeauthentic, genuine, true, verified

    Note

    In Washington Irving's The Sketch Book the narrator suspects one of those apocryphal tales passed off upon inquiring travelers, and in Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) a man leaving a cellar door at four in the morning with another man's money makes the whole business look apocryphal.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Washington Irving wrote The Sketch Book. gutenberg.org
    • The narrator initially suspects that the account is an apocryphal tale passed off upon inquiring travellers. gutenberg.org
    • Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, first published in 1886. en.wikisource.org
    • In the novel, Enfield describes a man emerging from a cellar door at four in the morning with another man's cheque and calls the business apocryphal. gutenberg.org
  2. 2
    Bible writingsadjective
    Belonging to or relating to the Apocrypha, a body of religious writings associated with the Bible.

    The seminar compares the apocryphal gospels with the four in the New Testament.

    Her study traces how apocryphal texts shaped medieval paintings of the Virgin Mary.

    Oppositecanonical

    Note

    Here the word labels a shelf of books: writings such as Tobit that some churches read as scripture and others print in a separate section of the Bible or leave out. Its use can take sides; in Scott's Waverley (1814) a character scorns Tobit and his dog as "heathenish and apocryphal". From this sense came the "not genuine" meaning: what stood outside the accepted books came to stand outside authority.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • Tobit is a religious book accepted as scripture by some churches. en.wikipedia.org
    • Other churches place these writings in a separate Bible section or omit them. en.wikipedia.org
    • Walter Scott wrote Waverley. gutenberg.org
    • Waverley was first published in 1814. walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk
    • A character in Waverley disparages Tobit and his dog using the exact words quoted. gutenberg.org
    • The sense involving doubtful authenticity or authority developed by extension from the religious sense. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

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Origin

Formed from apocrypha + the suffix -al.

Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact