popular myth
Widely believed untruth
A popular myth is a widely believed falsehood—something many people accept as true but isn't: It's a popular myth that we only use ten percent of our brains.
The phrase often introduces corrections to common misconceptions.
Unlike myths in the literary sense, popular myths lack narrative structure; they're simply errors that have achieved broad circulation.
- legendUnverified traditional tale
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- superstitionBaseless belief in omens
- urban legendUnverified viral story
- flat earthNon-spherical planetary model
fairy tale · misconception · fake news · lore · fable · belief · debunked · hoax · tall tale · old wives tale · wives tale · rumor · conspiracy · ancient · oral tradition · word of mouth · false · too good to be true
truth and verification
popular mythhard evidence
popular, populace, populate, populated, populating, population, populations, populous, popularity