apocryphal
/əˈpɑkɹɪfəl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.66 in modern English
22
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of, or pertaining to, the Apocrypha.
adj
Of dubious veracity; of questionable accuracy or truthfulness; anecdotal or in the nature of an urban legend.
Example Sentences
- "[…] ‘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.’"
- "Besides all this, he had read his Bible, including the apocryphal books; […]"
- "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."
- "Many scholars consider the stories of the monk Teilo to be apocryphal."
- "The structural anthropologist urges us to ignore the orthodox who labor so patiently trying to eliminate the apocryphal variants from the one true text."
- "There is an apocryphal tale of a little boy plugging the dike with his finger."
Etymology
Etymology tree English apocrypha Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? 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.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈpɑkɹɪfəl/
- British English: /əˈpɒkɹɪfəl/
Inflected Forms
more apocryphal (comparative)
most apocryphal (superlative)