MYTHICAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does mythical mean? 

• MYTHICAL (adjective)
  The adjective MYTHICAL has 1 sense:

1. based on or told of in traditional stories; lacking factual basis or historical validity

  Familiarity information: MYTHICAL used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MYTHICAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Based on or told of in traditional stories; lacking factual basis or historical validity

Synonyms:

fabulous; mythic; mythical; mythologic; mythological

Context example:

the fabulous unicorn

Similar:

unreal (lacking in reality or substance or genuineness; not corresponding to acknowledged facts or criteria)

Derivation:

myth (a traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the world view of a people)

 Context examples 

A high-tech company called Merlin Burrows believes it might have finally pinpointed the remains of the mythical city of Atlantis where it once stood.

(Researchers Claim to Have Found Mythical City of Atlantis in Spain, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

What he heard was no longer the philosophy of the dry, printed word, written by half-mythical demigods like Kant and Spencer.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I questioned Mrs. Straker as to the dress without her knowing it, and having satisfied myself that it had never reached her, I made a note of the milliner’s address, and felt that by calling there with Straker’s photograph I could easily dispose of the mythical Derbyshire.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Many have looked for the remains of the mythical locale, but nobody has come close to actually finding it and researchers claiming to have found it in the past have all ultimately been proven wrong.

(Researchers Claim to Have Found Mythical City of Atlantis in Spain, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)