urban legend

See synonyms for urban legend on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a modern story of obscure origin and with little or no supporting evidence that spreads spontaneously in varying forms and often has elements of humor, moralizing, or horror: Are there alligators living in the New York City sewer system, or is that just an urban legend?

Origin of urban legend

1
First recorded in 1970–75
  • Also called urban myth .

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024