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.

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

Maybe it’s time to revive the old, possibly apocryphal Red Auerbach legends about fire alarms and turning off the air conditioning.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 2, 2025

An apocryphal story has George Washington breakfasting with Thomas Jefferson and referring to the Senate as a saucer intended to cool the passions of the intemperate lower chamber.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 18, 2025

What of President Jackson's likely apocryphal rebuttal of the power of the courts, that they don't have an army to make him follow their rulings?

From Salon • Feb. 19, 2025

The story is probably apocryphal, but its import isn’t.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann