myth

noun6

1. •
   A traditional story which embodies a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; a sacred narrative regarding a god, a hero, the origin of the world or of a people, etc.

   • Jacobsen's theory about the empty storehouse is still valid, for a myth never has one meaning only; a myth is a polyphonic fugue of many voices. — 1981
2. •
   a false story or idea that is still widely accepted as true

   • Scientists debunk the myth that gum stays in the human stomach for seven years.
3. •
   A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.

   • As for Mrs. Primmins's bones, they had been myths these twenty years. — 1849
4. •
   An invented story, theory, or concept.

   • His story is a pure myth.
5. •
   Such stories as a genre.
6. •
   A person or thing held in excessive or quasi-religious awe or admiration based on popular legend

noun1

1. •
   Abbreviation of mythology.