# apocryphal

Pronunciation: say "uh-POK-ri-fuhl" US /əˈpɑːkɹɪfəl/, UK /əˈpɒkɹɪfəl/

## Adjective

1. 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.
   - Simple: Probably not true or not genuine, even though many people repeat it or believe it.
   - _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._
2. Belonging to or relating to the Apocrypha, a body of religious writings associated with the Bible.
   - Simple: About or from the Apocrypha, a group of old religious writings linked to 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._

## Origin

Formed from apocrypha + the suffix -al.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/apocryphal (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).