Definition of mythical in US English:

mythical

adjective

1Occurring in or characteristic of myths or folk tales.
‘one of Denmark's greatest mythical heroes’
- ‘That night I found myself staring at a carved masterpiece that decorated the ceiling, with snarling beasts and mythical creatures.’
- ‘I recognize that another current movie has done well by inventing a language for mythical beings, but is it really necessary that the vampires talk in vampirish?’
- ‘Ivory statues of mythical beasts with emerald eyes lined the way.’
- ‘According to one legend, a mythical hero named Bochica introduced culture and civilization to the people living around Bogotá.’
- ‘All sorts of things have inspired names for performance cars over the years, from animals and winds to exotic locations, mythical beasts and motor racing personalities.’
- ‘I had always thought that the Centaur was a mythical beast, but obviously the Greek aristocracy know where to find them.’
- ‘The Gorgon was a mythical creature who portrayed the darkest aspects of the feminine: revenge, hatred, lust for power, bitterness and self hatred.’
- ‘The school was named after a mythical creature in the hope it would appeal to youngsters at the school.’
- ‘One corner had the Chinese symbol for fire, the other something that looked like part of a mythical beast.’
- ‘Only subsequently did it go back to Europa, the mythical princess abducted by Zeus.’
- ‘Incidentally, the ancients had another cause for being grateful to this mythical hero.’
- ‘They represented deities, mythical creatures, imaginary beasts, and recognizable fauna imbued with symbolic meanings.’
- ‘In China, the unicorn is a symbol of perfect goodness - a mythical beast with a lifespan of a thousand years.’
- ‘She was teased up to the age of 7 because she used to believe in monsters and mythical beasts.’
- ‘Their entire surfaces were carved with mythical beasts and classic Viking patterns.’
- ‘Like the mythical phoenix, which arose in its own ashes, the ram was chosen as a natural symbol of resurrection because of its ability, when shorn, to replenish its stock of wool.’
- ‘Yet another use of a grotesque image can be seen in the carvings of two mythical beasts that perch on top of the great medieval cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France.’
- ‘Even the country's national symbol - the dragon - is a mythical beast.’
- ‘I would search for other mythical beasts like him.’
- ‘What myth is being alluded to and what is the name of the mythical horse so raised?’
legendary, mythological, fabled, fabulous, folkloric, fairy-tale, storybook, chimerical
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1. 1.1 Idealized, especially with reference to the past.
  ‘a mythical age of contentment and social order’
  ‘It's a story that occurs in what many of us take to be the mythical past - so what does it have to tell us today?’
  ‘Instead he recalls a mythical past of gentlemanly villains with hearts of gold.’
  ‘He spent the rest of his life creating a mythical past to fill the void.’
  ‘Many call for a retreat to a mythical past when, they claim, national governments regulated and controlled the economy in the interests of all.’
  ‘He sees too many journalists as focused on a mythical past when things were better, at least in hindsight.’
  ‘Contemporary Dutch teams should be judged on their own merits and not allowed to bask in the reflected glory of a mythical past.’
  ‘This knee-jerk nostalgia for nursing's mythical golden age simply will not do.’
  ‘They crave books which confirm mythical notions of a magnificent past, in which villains and heroes are clearly drawn in black and white.’
  ‘We know that we cannot return to some mythical time in the past when nature was in balance, and static.’
  ‘We cannot go back to a mythical golden age of a white Christian society ruled by British law and traditions.’
  ‘Advocates of this doctrine did not propose a ‘return’ to some mythical American past.’
  ‘All going well, it could be the perfect antidote to those who are insisting that we return to some mythical, homogenised past.’
  ‘His protest involves, however, no retreat into a mythical golden age and sternly rejects any hints of aestheticism.’
  ‘To say that, I recognise, is to risk appearing as a reactionary, someone constantly harking back to a mythical golden age.’
  ‘Television thus becomes a cultural and historical watershed allowing people to create a mythical past.’
  ‘It is burdensome if the twenty-first century primitive artist is supposed to have escaped the march of history to help the rest of us treasure some mythical past.’
  ‘Most anthropologists would recognize much writing about community in public health as idealized if not mythical.’
  ‘The next day after the demonstration class, we discussed his modern interpretation of the mythical past and of a cult figure.’
  ‘The anti-capitalism of the protesters on the streets of Seattle represented not the old dream of human liberation, but a fear of the future and a determination to flee back into a mythical past.’
  ‘We are not going to turn back the clock to a, probably mythical, Golden Age.’
  fabled, heroic, ancient, traditional, fairy-tale, storybook, romantic, mythological
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2. 1.2 Fictitious.
  ‘a mythical customer whose name appears in brochures’
  ‘Happily, we don't have to invent this mythical band as the Sadies fit the bill pretty neatly.’
  ‘Drug advertising uses strong imagery to fabricate mythical associations between medical conditions and branded drugs.’
  ‘And rightly have they named the experience Xanadu, the mythical land where the wildest fantasy comes true.’
  ‘These stories are inventive and mythical, but never frightening - in fact, it is their slightly humorous quality that lends them much of their charm.’
  ‘Whatever happened to the days when TV shows used mythical place names?’
  ‘The event might be entirely mythical but if the myth expresses a true relationship, then for us it is as valuable as a factual incident.’
  ‘The Curmudgeon is a satirical column based on fictitious characters in a mythical village.’
  ‘That is a mythical invention of judges, who were forced to invent something to cope with some political compromises put through by David Lange.’
  ‘The heroes are mythical figures, but they are also real.’
  ‘A couple of years ago the Disney Channel invented this on-air mythical place called Zoog Disney.’
  ‘The mythical plumber has been named Piotr and is very dangerous.’
  imaginary, fictitious, make-believe, fantasy, fanciful, invented, fabricated, made-up, unreal, untrue, non-existent
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