Definitions

old wives' tale

NOUN

superstition

Synonyms

WEAK

fairy story fallacy false belief folk tale folklore legend lore myth notion tall story tall tale

NOUN

popular belief

Synonyms

WEAK

allegory fable fallacy false belief false knowledge folklore legend lore moral myth parable story superstition superstitious belief tale tradition yarn

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.

Its government said that there were "no border violations by Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters", and described the accusation as an "old wives' tale".

From BBC

No one's spitting in your dish; that's an old wives' tale.

From Salon

Then I read a trick that sounded like it had to be an old wives' tale: Stick a piece of bread in your mouth.

From Salon

It is where we get the notion of the old wives' tale.

From Salon

Another popular old wives' tale is that a full Moon causes women to go into labour.

From BBC