pl.n. 1. Spurious writings, especially writings falsely attributed to biblical characters or times. 2. A body of texts written between 200 BC and AD 200 and spuriously ascribed to various prophets and kings of the Hebrew Scriptures. [Greek, from neuter pl. of pseudepigraphos, falsely ascribed : pseudēs, false; see PSEUDO- + epigraphein, to inscribe (epi-, epi- + graphein, to write; see gerbh- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots).] pseud′e·pigra·phal (-rə-fəl), pseud′ep·i·graphic (s′dĕp-ĭ-grăfĭk), pseud′ep·i·graphi·cal (-ĭ-kəl), pseud′e·pigra·phous (-rə-fəs) adj. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.