the stuff of legend

idiomatic phrase

variants or less commonly the stuff of legends

: someone or something that is told about in legend

Dragons are still the stuff of legend. But in Slovenia, a bizarre, cave-dwelling … salamander serves as a worthy, real-life stand-in.—

Olivia Lowenberg

: someone or something that is very famous or memorable

Earlier that summer, Saito faced off with Tanaka in Japan's national high school championships, which are at least the equivalent of March Madness in the United States. Their battles were the stuff of legend, but Saito's team won and he struck out Tanaka for the final out of the deciding game.—

Anthony Rieber

For those of us who ran around in it, the blizzard of '78 was the stuff of legend, an unrelenting force of nature that smacked Boston upside the head for about a week.—

Bob Flaherty

The contest between ruling authorities and peasants over whether or not martyrs would be commemorated could itself become the stuff of legends.—

Anne Walthall

Examples of the stuff of legend in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The rift between Taylor Swift and Ye (formerly Kanye West) is the stuff of legend in the celebrity world and there’s a new update. —

Sophie Hanson, StyleCaster, 7 Aug. 2024 Jennifer Lopez’s birthday parties are the stuff of legends. —

Jack Smart, Peoplemag, 21 July 2024 Biden’s tendency to say the wrong thing at precisely the wrong time has been the stuff of legend for much of his career. —

Michael Collins, USA TODAY, 12 July 2024 It was destroyed in a 2011 tsunami that struck the property, and, until 2023, remained the stuff of legends. —

Hannah Selinger, Travel + Leisure, 9 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for the stuff of legend

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'the stuff of legend.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1919, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of the stuff of legend was in 1919

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“The stuff of legend.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20stuff%20of%20legend. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.

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