fable

Meaning

Noun

1. A fictitious narrative intended to enforce some useful truth or precept, usually with animals, etc. as characters; an apologue. Prototypically, Aesop's Fables.
2. Any story told to excite wonder; common talk; the theme of talk.
3. Fiction; untruth; falsehood.
4. The plot, story, or connected series of events forming the subject of an epic or dramatic poem.

Verb

1. To compose fables; hence, to write or speak fiction; to write or utter what is not true.
2. To make up; to devise, and speak of, as true or real; to tell of falsely; to recount in the form of a fable.

Synonyms

tale

story

legend

myth

fiction

allegory

fairy tale

parable

fabrication

apologue

invention

lie

riddle

news

📰

anecdote

cock-and-bull story

metaphor

folktale

saga

narrative

short story

analogy

fairy story

falsehood

allegorist

theater

theatre

old story

romance

made-up story

history

moral story

traditional short story

conversation

feign

confession

adage

legends

children’s story

beast fable

proverb

relate

parabole

scheme

Hyphenated as

fa‧ble

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈfeɪbəl/

Etymology

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French fable, from Latin fābula, from fārī (“to speak, say”) + -bula (“instrumental suffix”). See ban, and compare fabulous, fame. Doublet of fabula.