fable
Americannoun
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a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters; apologue: Aesop's fables.
the fable of the tortoise and the hare;
Aesop's fables.
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a story not founded on fact.
This biography is largely a self-laudatory fable.
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a story about supernatural or extraordinary persons or incidents; legend.
the fables of gods and heroes.
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legends or myths collectively.
the heroes of Greek fable.
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an untruth; falsehood.
This boast of a cure is a medical fable.
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the plot of an epic, a dramatic poem, or a play.
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idle talk.
old wives' fables.
verb (used without object)
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to tell or write fables.
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to speak falsely; lie.
to fable about one's past.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a short moral story, esp one with animals as characters
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a false, fictitious, or improbable account; fiction or lie
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a story or legend about supernatural or mythical characters or events
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legends or myths collectively
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archaic the plot of a play or of an epic or dramatic poem
verb
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to relate or tell (fables)
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(intr) to speak untruthfully; tell lies
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(tr) to talk about or describe in the manner of a fable
ghosts are fabled to appear at midnight
Related Words
See legend.
Other Word Forms
- fabler noun
- outfable verb (used with object)
- unfabling adjective
Etymology
Origin of fable
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English fable, fabel, fabul, from Anglo-French, Old French, from Latin fābula “a story, tale,” equivalent to fā(rī) “to speak” + -bula suffix of instrument
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Branches spring forth from paintings and every nook is a nod to something born of a fable.
From Los Angeles Times
Still, the apocalyptic folk tales offer an irresistible fable for the times.
I will get images for scenes before I know what the actual scene is, and it’ll be almost more of like a symbolic image, or it’ll be a fable that I’ve heard before.
From Los Angeles Times
A greedy pawnbroker gets involved, and the pieces are in place for a fable — a surreal one, without the customary lesson at the end.
From Los Angeles Times
That same year, Altman also gave him the title role in his “Brewster McCloud,” an eccentric fable about a Houston loner determined to build a pair of wings and take flight.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
