legendary

/ˌlɛdʒənˈdɛri/

/ˈlɛdʒəndɛri/

Other forms: legendarily

It's one thing to be famous. It's another thing altogether to be legendary, or like a legend. The Monkees were a famous band. The Beatles are legendary — for most people, they are almost mythical in their greatness.

There are a couple of ways to become legendary, but, however you get there, you have to become a legend. The first way is to be better at something than anyone else ever was. Michael Jordan, for example, is a legendary basketball player. The other way is to be known — and yet remain mysterious — for a very long time. The legendary Loch Ness Monster, for example, is very well known for a creature that (almost?) no one has ever actually seen.

Definitions of legendary

1. adjective

   so celebrated as to having taken on the nature of a legend
   “the legendary exploits of the arctic trailblazers”

   synonyms:

   known

   apprehended with certainty
2. adjective

   celebrated in fable or legend
   “legendary exploits of Jesse James”

   synonyms: fabled

   unreal

   lacking in reality or substance or genuineness; not corresponding to acknowledged facts or criteria