apologue

[ ap-uh-lawg, -log ]

/ ˈæp əˌlɔg, -ˌlɒg /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR apologue ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a didactic narrative; a moral fable.

an allegory.

RELATED WORDS

parable, allegory, story, fable

Nearby words

Origin of apologue

1545–55; (< Middle French) < Latin apologus < Greek apólogos fable. See apo-, -logue

Related formsap·o·log·al, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for apologue

The apologue is quite clear; and yet a certain amount of intelligence is necessary for its comprehension.
The Life of Joan of Arc, Vol. 1 and 2 (of 2)|Anatole France
This is an apologue of misplaced confidence in things earthly.
Anglo-Saxon Literature|John Earle
Such an apologue is literally no exaggeration of the facts of English history.
What's Wrong With The World|G.K. Chesterton
But the "armed Greeks" of More's apologue found a yet wider field in the reform of the higher education of the country.
History of the English People, Volume III (of 8)|John Richard Green

It begins with the apologue of the hawk and nightingale already quoted.
Studies of the Greek Poets (Vol I of 2)|John Addington Symonds

British Dictionary definitions for apologue

apologue

/ (ˈæpəˌlɒɡ) /

noun

an allegory or moral fable

Word Origin for apologue

C17: from Latin, from Greek apologos

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for apologue

apologue

"moral fable," 1550s, from French apologue, from Latin apologus, from Greek apologos, from apo- "off, away from" (see apo-) + logos "speech" (see lecture (n.)). Literally, "(that which comes) from a speech."