parable

[ par-uh-buhl ]

noun

1. a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson.

   Synonyms: apologue, homily, allegory

2. a statement or comment that conveys a meaning indirectly by the use of comparison, analogy, or the like.

parable

/ ˈpærəbəl; pəˈræbəlɪst /

noun

1. a short story that uses familiar events to illustrate a religious or ethical point parabolicparabolical
2. any of the stories of this kind told by Jesus Christ

Derived Forms

• parabolist, noun

Other Words From

• pa·rab·o·list [p, uh, -, rab, -, uh, -list], noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of parable¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English parabil, from Late Latin parabola “allegory, comparison, word,” from Greek parabolḗ “comparison,” from para- para- ¹ + bolḗ “a throw”

Word History and Origins

Origin of parable¹

C14: from Old French parabole, from Latin parabola comparison, from Greek parabolē analogy, from paraballein to throw alongside, from para- ¹+ ballein to throw

Example Sentences

That interpretation is visible in the movie’s design, with the Round Table and the castle rendered in dull, almost industrial grays and harsh lighting, and there are ways to read the film as an environmental parable, too.

From Vox

The investment was also a depressing parable for capitalism today.

From Washington Post

Some of his encounters over the past few days have felt like contemporary parables, King says.

From Outside Online

It was a parable about “what is relevant is life — not worrying about ideology, about politics, about whether he is a commie or a capitalist.”

From Washington Post

Longevity research always reminds me of the parable of blind men and an elephant.

From Singularity Hub 

The anecdote is a perfect parable for the power and ignorance of artistic patrons.

From The Daily Beast

He recounts a parable that has long been a staple of dairy farm folklore.

From The Daily Beast

Expecting otherwise is enough to make one recite the parable of the Old Woman and the Snake.

From The Daily Beast

What seems at first to be novel about gender inequity gradually reveals itself to be a parable about social class.

From The Daily Beast

Equilateral can be read as a parable of the ways we blind ourselves through vanity, love, and greed.

From The Daily Beast

The resurrection of Lazarus is a transparent fabrication out of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

From Project Gutenberg

So I have had to convey my precepts insensibly to Milord K.—to convey them in homeopathic doses of parable.

From Project Gutenberg

Here is Christianity with its marvellous parable of the Prodigal Son to teach us indulgence and pardon.

From Project Gutenberg

The moral of the parable of the ten talents is eminently true in matters of learning.

From Project Gutenberg

It 148 was rather the parable of family life that I read in this succession of fair faces and shapely bodies.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• fable
• tale