APOCRYPHAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Apocryphal mean? 

• APOCRYPHAL (adjective)
  The adjective APOCRYPHAL has 2 senses:

1. being of questionable authenticity

2. of or belonging to the Apocrypha

  Familiarity information: APOCRYPHAL used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• APOCRYPHAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Being of questionable authenticity

Similar:

questionable (subject to question)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or belonging to the Apocrypha

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Pertainym:

Apocrypha (14 books of the Old Testament included in the Vulgate (except for II Esdras) but omitted in Jewish and Protestant versions of the Bible; eastern Christian churches (except the Coptic Church) accept all these books as canonical; the Russian Orthodox Church accepts these texts as divinely inspired but does not grant them the same status)

Derivation:

Apocrypha (14 books of the Old Testament included in the Vulgate (except for II Esdras) but omitted in Jewish and Protestant versions of the Bible; eastern Christian churches (except the Coptic Church) accept all these books as canonical; the Russian Orthodox Church accepts these texts as divinely inspired but does not grant them the same status)

 Context examples 

I took the liberty of pointing out to my gentleman that the whole business looked apocryphal, and that a man does not, in real life, walk into a cellar door at four in the morning and come out with another man’s cheque for close upon a hundred pounds.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)