Apocryphal Meaning
/əˈpɒkɹɪfəl/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjOf, or pertaining to, the Apocrypha.
adjOf doubtful authenticity, or lacking authority; not regarded as canonical.
Sentence Examples
Apocryphal stories are the most fun variety of bullshit.
That story about an apple falling on Newton's head is most probably apocryphal.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ story about the emperor was never verified by historians.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The story about the famous inventor is likely ____ and not entirely true.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree English apocrypha Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālisbor. Old French -albor. ▲ Latin -ālis Old French -elbor. ▲ Latin -ālisbor. Middle English -al English -al English apocryphal From apocrypha + -al.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…] ‘Tobit and his dog baith are altogether heathenish and apocryphal, and none but a prelatist or a papist would draw them into question. I doubt I hae been mista'en in you, friend.’"
— 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], chapter XXXVI, in Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:
"Besides all this, he had read his Bible, including the apocryphal books; […]"
— 1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XIX, in Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:
"The Latins are throughout poorer. Tertullian and Cyprian will be referred to; but Jerome hates apocryphal literature, and says so, while Augustine, a valuable source of knowledge about some New Testament Apocrypha, never, it so happens, quotes spurious Old Testament literature at all."
— 1920, Montague Rhodes James, “Introductory”, in The Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament:
"The structural anthropologist urges us to ignore the orthodox who labor so patiently trying to eliminate the apocryphal variants from the one true text."
— 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light:Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, page 11:
"Charles, already dispos'd by the evidence of his senses to think my pretences to virginity not entirely apocryphal, smothers me with kisses, begs me, in the name of love, to have a little patience, and that he will be as tender of hurting me as he would be of himself."
— 1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ story about the emperor was never verified by historians.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The story about the famous inventor is likely ____ and not entirely true.