OLD WIVES' TALES Synonyms: 38 Similar and Opposite Words

old wives' tales

noun

plural of old wives' tale

as in errors

a false idea or belief the belief that going outside with wet hair will cause you to catch cold is just an old wives' tale

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for old wives' tales

Noun

When people have little relief from stress in a chaotic environment, their brains have difficulty coping with the ongoing prediction errors, Friston, McEwen and neuroscientist Achim Peters argued in a 2017 article.

— Maia Szalavitz, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
Passengers will also be able to fix any name errors on their booking for free.

— Will Barker, TheWeek, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of errors

Noun

Ancient myths and modern cinema depict bogs as sinister locales, dangerous to cross, and fatal to get trapped in.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2026
But in earlier myths, Al Basty was described as a hearth deity and a protector of women in childbirth.

— Yulia Denisyuk, Condé Nast Traveler, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of myths

Noun

But a line like that also fleshes out the head-in-the-stratosphere delusions of everyone here.

— Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 8 Oct. 2026
The company has also been sued by the parents of kids who took their own lives, alleging that ChatGPT encouraged suicide and harmful delusions.

— James Peckham, PC Magazine, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of delusions

Noun

Pokémon cards, a pricey Ferrari shirt and a touristy museum of illusions.

— Jeanne Bonner, CNN Money, 16 Oct. 2026
When the team built a setup to directly quantify real-time heat flux alongside electrical output, the theoretical illusions collapsed.

— Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of illusions

Noun

American Horror Story is officially back for its 13th season — and so are many of the franchise’s most memorable characters, with a plethora of superstitions to come.

— Lexi Carson, HollywoodReporter, 25 Sep. 2026
The whatever that locked life in the truths of biology, chemistry, physics, far from the hysteria and superstitions of her heart, her family, history.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of superstitions

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

old wives' tale

old wives' tales

old-world

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Old wives' tales.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/old%20wives%27%20tales. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of old wives' tales

noun

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

compunction

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

Popular in Wordplay

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes