1. writings or reports not considered genuine or of questionable authenticity
2. books included in the Septuagint and Vulgate but excluded from the Jewish and Protestant canons of the Old Testament
Usage: religious; capitalized when referring to specific biblical texts

Examples

• The scholar dismissed the document as apocrypha, lacking credible sources.
• Many stories about the celebrity’s early life turned out to be apocrypha.
• The Apocrypha includes books like Tobit and Judith.
• Catholic Bibles contain the Apocrypha, while Protestant versions do not.
• Historians must separate fact from apocrypha when studying ancient civilizations.
• The museum’s collection included several texts of questionable origin, essentially apocrypha.
• Students of theology learn to distinguish between canonical texts and apocrypha.