legend
noun
Simple meaning
A story of unknown origin describing plausible but extraordinary past events.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
lehjuhndSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlɛdʒənd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A story of unknown origin describing plausible but extraordinary past events.
A plausible story set in the historical past, but whose historicity is uncertain.
A story in which a kernel of truth is embellished to an unlikely degree.
A person of extraordinary fame or accomplishments.
A story about mythical or supernatural beings or events
The life story of a saint (such stories are often embellished, but any kind is called a legend).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A story of unknown origin describing plausible but extraordinary past events.
Used this way, legend is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use legend
- “According to local legend, a hidden treasure is buried deep in the forest.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The legend of King Arthur and his court at Camelot.
A story that appears mysteriously and spreads spontaneously in various forms and is usually false.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.