noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Writings falsely ascribed to famous persons (historical or mythical) to lend them greater legitimacy, typically composed many centuries after the ostensible author's death. plural, plural-normally

   "The Jewish pseudepigrapha bear the names of Old Testament patriarchs, kings, or prophets."

2. 2
   52 texts written between 200 BC and AD 200 but ascribed to various prophets and kings in the Hebrew scriptures; many are apocalyptic in nature wordnet

Example

More examples

"The Jewish pseudepigrapha bear the names of Old Testament patriarchs, kings, or prophets."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ψευδής (pseudḗs, “false”) + ἐπιγραφή (epigraphḗ, “inscription”), literally “false title”.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.