saga

American  

[sah-guh] / ˈsɑ gə /

noun

• sagas
  plural

1. a medieval Icelandic or Norse prose narrative of achievements and events in the history of a personage, family, etc.

2. any narrative or legend of heroic exploits.

   Synonyms:

   history, tale, epic

3. Also called saga novel.  a form of the novel in which the members or generations of a family or social group are chronicled in a long and leisurely narrative.

4. a dramatic history of a group, place, industry, etc..

   the saga of the transcontinental railroad.

5. any very long story with dramatic events or parts.

   the sad saga of her life in poverty.

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saga British  

/ ˈsɑːɡə /

noun

1. any of several medieval prose narratives written in Iceland and recounting the exploits of a hero or a family

2. any similar heroic narrative

3. Also called: saga novel.  a series of novels about several generations or members of a family

4. any other artistic production said to resemble a saga

5. informal a series of events or a story stretching over a long period

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sagas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of saga

First recorded in 1700–10; from Old Norse: literally, “story, narrative, history”; cognate with saw ³

Explanation

When your friend tells you every detail of how she tripped over a rock, broke her ankle, and then got into a car accident on the way to the hospital, she is sharing a long, involved story known as a saga. The word saga has its origins in the Middle Ages. In those days, a saga was an historical tale of the first families who lived in Norway or Iceland. Today the word is used to describe a very complicated or detailed series of events. A saga is the kind of long, drawn-out story that can cause the people who hear it to roll their eyes in boredom.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

saga sagas

“The Disappearers” is an unexpected arrival from Mr. James, whose previous two novels were the first two entries in his “Dark Star Trilogy,” a wonderfully wild and mythic fantasy saga set in precolonial Africa.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

All eyes were on Wirtz and Isak - the Sweden striker, signed from Newcastle in a drawn-out saga last September, was booed relentlessly whenever he touched the ball.

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

For property giant Evergrande, the face of China's real estate woes, an excruciating saga that has dragged on for years culminated on Thursday with court rulings ordering fines and jail terms.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

But that wouldn’t be much of a movie, so the family spends nearly the entire saga wandering around the neighborhood, looking for the dog and finding mayhem.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

The unstoppable rise of the Mona Lisa is a centuries-long saga.

From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day

Whether in the films beloved by the Wu-Tang or the animated sagas Megan favors, characters battle not simply for survival but to achieve mastery.

From Salon ● May 31, 2026

He liked to play loudly, for many hours at a time, improvising ceaseless and whipsawing sagas of frenetic melodies and emphatic blaring and screeching—it was a whole lot of sound.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026

The network had long built its identity on adult prestige — crime sagas, antiheroes and sprawling family epics — not stories centered on high schoolers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026

The powerhouse behind sagas like "Assassin's Creed" and "Far Cry" now forecasts a one-billion-euro operating loss for its 2025-26 financial year.

From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026

The sagas, all prose tales, are of later date.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton