legend

[ lej-uhnd ]
See synonyms for legend on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a nonhistorical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical.

  2. the body of stories of this kind, especially as they relate to a particular people, group, or clan: the winning of the West in American legend.

  1. an inscription, especially on a coat of arms, on a monument, under a picture, or the like.

  2. a table on a map, chart, or the like, listing and explaining the symbols used.: Compare key1 (def. 8).

  3. Numismatics. inscription (def. 8).

  4. a collection of stories about an admirable person.

  5. a person who is the center of such stories: She became a legend in her own lifetime.

  6. Archaic. a story of the life of a saint, especially one stressing the miraculous or unrecorded deeds of the saint.

  7. Obsolete. a collection of such stories or stories like them.

Origin of legend

1
First recorded in 1300–50; 1900–05 for def. 4; Middle English legende “written account of a saint's life,” from Medieval Latin legenda literally, “(lesson) to be read,” noun use of feminine of Latin legendus, gerund of legere “to read”; so called because appointed to be read on respective saints' days

synonym study For legend

1. Legend, fable, myth refer to fictitious stories, usually handed down by tradition (although some fables are modern). Legend, originally denoting a story concerning the life of a saint, is applied to any fictitious story, sometimes involving the supernatural, and usually concerned with a real person, place, or other subject: the legend of the Holy Grail. A fable is specifically a fictitious story (often with animals or inanimate things as speakers or actors) designed to teach a moral: a fable about industrious bees. A myth is one of a class of stories, usually concerning gods, semidivine heroes, etc., current since primitive times, the purpose of which is to attempt to explain some belief or natural phenomenon: the Greek myth about Demeter.

Opposites for legend

Other words from legend

  • pre·leg·end, noun, adjective

Words that may be confused with legend

  • fable, legend , myth (see synonym study at the current entry)

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

How to use legend in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for legend

legend

/ (ˈlɛdʒənd) /


noun
  1. a popular story handed down from earlier times whose truth has not been ascertained

  2. a group of such stories: the Arthurian legend

  1. a modern story that has taken on the characteristics of a traditional legendary tale

  2. a person whose fame or notoriety makes him a source of exaggerated or romanticized tales or exploits

  3. an inscription or title, as on a coin or beneath a coat of arms

  4. explanatory matter accompanying a table, map, chart, etc

    • a story of the life of a saint

    • a collection of such stories

Origin of legend

1
C14 (in the sense: a saint's life or a collection of saints' lives): from Medieval Latin legenda passages to be read, from Latin legere to read

Derived forms of legend

  • legendry, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012