apocryphal

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This apocryphal lazybones is defined by two traits.

From Salon • Jan. 14, 2026

What defines him instead are various quips, mordant jokes and accounts of bizarre behavior, many no doubt apocryphal, recorded by his admirers and detractors in the centuries after his death.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 17, 2025

Much of “Flour” is concerned with the woman’s conversation with her driver about a parable from the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas that he is translating from Coptic—a tale, he says, about emptiness and unknowing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025

Morgan’s reply may be apocryphal, but it encompasses the truism that investors should divorce their emotional response to the markets from the cold analysis that should underlie investment decisions, if possible.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2025

But he wasn’t called anything because this is an apocryphal story, which means that it is a lie, too.

From "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon