(n.) A story of great but unknown age which originally embodied a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; an ancient legend of a god, a hero, the origin of a race, etc.; a wonder story of prehistoric origin; a popular fable which is, or has been, received as historical.
(n.) A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.
Example Sentences:
(1) We have not yet been honest about the implications, and some damaging myths have arisen.
(2) Critics of wind power peddle the same old myths about investment in new energy sources adding to families' fuel bills , preferring to pick a fight with people concerned about the environment, than stand up to vested interests in the energy industry, for the hard-pressed families and pensioners being ripped off by the energy giants.
(3) The mayor of London had said in a Twitter exchange in July that it was a “ludicrous urban myth” that Britain’s premier shopping street was one of the world’s most polluted thoroughfares, saying that the capital’s air quality was “better than Paris and other European cities”.
(4) Together, they dispel the myth that changing initial responses more often is detrimental than beneficial.
(5) Louis CK is exploding a few myths about one of pop culture's most hallowed spaces, the sitcom writers' room.
(6) While the Spielberg of popular myth is Mr Nice Guy, Lean was known as an obsessive, cantankerous tyrant who didn't much like actors and was only truly happy locked away in the editing suite.
(7) Also, it is proposed that the latent content of the personal myth pertains to traumatic experiences and conflictual wishes related to either or both the oedipal and the pre-oedipal phase of development.
(8) Myths such as those that we have described may distract our patients from the underlying behaviors that contribute to the disease or may deflect the blame perceived by obese patients and their parents.
(9) His favourite literary genres as a child were detective stories and Greek myths.
(10) Unfortunately, this explosion is mild compared with the number of myths, falsehoods and downright lies which have accompanied these ideas.
(11) It's hard to imagine a more masculine character than Thor, who is based on the god of thunder of Norse myth: he's the strapping, hammer-wielding son of Odin who, more often than not, sports a beard and likes nothing better than smacking frost giants.
(12) It results in porn becoming, by default, sex education.” The site originally debunked porn myths but she later launched a streaming service, where couples could upload their sex tapes.
(13) At present, this test is too expensive to offer to the public although BP is touring the country to pass on green driving tips and bust some myths.
(14) It also highlights law professor Lynn Stout’s recent book, The Shareholder Value Myth .
(15) Quite so: a better way to create a solid national identity is to educate children and encourage adults to have a critical sensibility about such myths.
(16) The attitude section consists of 35 5-alternative, Likert-type items; responses to the items result in scores on 4 attitude scales: heterosexual relations (HR); sexual myths (SM); abortion (A); and Autoeroticism or Masturbation (M).
(17) The drug subculture, the addict's family, and a methadone clinic all covertly elicit and reinforce this transformation maintained by the myth that the addict's is "out of control".
(18) The contextual age construct raises questions concerning several negative myths about aging.
(19) To illustrate his thesis he presents the case history of a man who was fatally affected by the family myth and mystification process.
(20) It suggests that two basic assumptions, labeled the professionalism myth and the individualism myth, have been major contributors to this state of affairs.
Taboo
Definition:
(n.) A total prohibition of intercourse with, use of, or approach to, a given person or thing under pain of death, -- an interdict of religious origin and authority, formerly common in the islands of Polynesia; interdiction.
(v. t.) To put under taboo; to forbid, or to forbid the use of; to interdict approach to, or use of; as, to taboo the ground set apart as a sanctuary for criminals.
Example Sentences:
(1) Further, the use of food as a reinforcer has been considered taboo by those who use more conventional and restrictive management approaches with Prader-Willi syndrome individuals.
(2) I think we’re finally at a place in culture where a character being gay or lesbian isn’t taboo, especially for teenagers – the target audience for a lot of these summer blockbusters,” says screenwriter Graham Moore, who won an Oscar for the Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game .
(3) Prolonged breast feeding should be encouraged, child health improved, and research conducted on the traditions, norms, customs, and taboos of target populations.
(4) Since his arrest, a French taboo has been broken and Strauss-Kahn's behaviour towards women, deemed "libertine" by his friends, has been raked over.
(5) It's actually very taboo to stop and say, "OK, I'm in a band and I'm really successful and my boyfriend's a pop star and he's really handsome and lots of girls fancy him, but I don't want to be with him."
(6) In explaining why its Oscar chances had all but disappeared, the Atlantic's Richard Lawson explained last month that as a result of the controversy, the film has "just become something vaguely taboo".
(7) In some ways, Sarkozy broke taboos, on what constitutes a modern family for example.
(8) "Whilst paying for NHS services is a difficult, and for many a taboo subject to debate, we really do have to think about how we move things forward."
(9) In the course of showing us the "dark" side of Scandinavian life, Michael Booth writes that Finland is "burdened by taboos" about the civil war, second world war and cold war ( The dark heart of Scandinavia , 28 January).
(10) This article proposes that a propensity for sexual selection originates in the gene system, and what becomes taboo is acquired through the learning that accompanies the experiences of the individual and culture when sexual selection occurs.
(11) The very possibility of a country leaving the single currency was so taboo as to be unmentionable as recently as a month ago.
(12) Because I feel it’s fair to say that comedy has been a thing, over and over again, that deals with a lot of taboo stuff.
(13) This cross-sex aversion may be a reflection of the incest taboo.
(14) In the thrall of social media and smartphones, we are drip-fed a steady supply of Instagram-filtered intimacy – and in this world, negative emotions and loneliness are taboo.
(15) It seemed as if there were few taboos left, but later this month cable network Showtime begins airing a show that marks another step forward.
(16) Restrictions on local news agencies and newspapers seem to have eased recently with a few going as far as breaking the taboo on reporting the plight of political prisoners or the house arrests of opposition leaders.
(17) The special epidemiology of the disease, the long incubation period, prejudice, and taboo concerning sexuality have constrained constructive and open debate on strategies and approaches.
(18) Traditional black customs, in contrast, place strong taboos on the male's involvement in birth.
(19) Yet the debate avoided a taboo at the heart of the story: the tricky matter of class.
(20) This information model, based on cancer taboo, is largely preferred by these healthy people and is followed by doctors, patients and family members.