urban legend
noun
: an often lurid story or anecdote that is based on hearsay and widely circulated as true
the urban legend of alligators living in the sewers
called also urban myth
Examples of urban legend in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The plot follows a group of law enforcement officers investigating a series of mysterious murders connected to the infamous Route 666, blending supernatural elements with urban legend for a suspenseful ride through the dark history of the road.
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Tiffany Acosta, The Arizona Republic, 5 Oct. 2024
The film — about a white graduate student researching an urban legend about a Black son of a slave who was lynched for falling in love with a white woman — offers complex questions for viewers to ponder.
—EW.com, 17 Oct. 2024
The story was a fabrication and was soon debunked, but has now been revitalized on TikTok (the urban legend was seemingly inspired by a similar scene from Mean Girls).
—Dani Di Placido, Forbes, 8 Oct. 2024
One of them is The Curve, also known as Dead Man's Curve, a thriller from 1998 inspired by the urban legend that a student will receive an A letter grade should their roommate die tragically.
—Simon Thompson, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for urban legend 
Tiffany Acosta, The Arizona Republic, 5 Oct. 2024
The film — about a white graduate student researching an urban legend about a Black son of a slave who was lynched for falling in love with a white woman — offers complex questions for viewers to ponder.
—EW.com, 17 Oct. 2024
The story was a fabrication and was soon debunked, but has now been revitalized on TikTok (the urban legend was seemingly inspired by a similar scene from Mean Girls).
—Dani Di Placido, Forbes, 8 Oct. 2024
One of them is The Curve, also known as Dead Man's Curve, a thriller from 1998 inspired by the urban legend that a student will receive an A letter grade should their roommate die tragically.
—Simon Thompson, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for urban legend
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'urban legend.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Urban legend.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/urban%20legend. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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