fable

American  

[fay-buhl] / ˈfeɪ bəl /

noun

• fables
  plural

1. 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.

2. a story not founded on fact.

   This biography is largely a self-laudatory fable.

3. a story about supernatural or extraordinary persons or incidents; legend.

   the fables of gods and heroes.

4. legends or myths collectively.

   the heroes of Greek fable.

5. an untruth; falsehood.

   This boast of a cure is a medical fable.

6. the plot of an epic, a dramatic poem, or a play.

7. idle talk.

   old wives' fables.

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verb (used without object)

fabled, fabling

1. to tell or write fables.

2. to speak falsely; lie.

   to fable about one's past.

verb (used with object)

fabled, fabling

1. to describe as if actually so; talk about as if true.

   She is fabled to be the natural daughter of a king.

fable British  

/ ˈfeɪbəl /

noun

1. a short moral story, esp one with animals as characters

2. a false, fictitious, or improbable account; fiction or lie

3. a story or legend about supernatural or mythical characters or events

4. legends or myths collectively

5. archaic the plot of a play or of an epic or dramatic poem

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verb

1. to relate or tell (fables)

2. (intr) to speak untruthfully; tell lies

3. (tr) to talk about or describe in the manner of a fable

   ghosts are fabled to appear at midnight

Synonym Usage

See legend.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• fabler
  noun
• outfable
  verb (used with object)
• unfabling
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fables
  plural

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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

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Explanation

A fable is a moral tale that often features animal characters. “The Tortoise and the Hare” is a well-known fable whose moral is "Slow and steady wins the race." We often associate fables with the master of them all, Aesop. Among the most famous fables attributed to this storyteller of ancient Greece are "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and "The Fox and the Grapes." But like its cousins tale, myth, and legend, the word fable is also used to describe a deliberate fabrication or fiction. In other words, it can be a polite way to describe a lie.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fable fables fabled fabling

But it was 1986’s “A Smoky Mountain Christmas,” Parton’s down-home festive fable, that cemented her as a seasonal favorite.

From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026

At some point in childhood, through one classic fable or another, most of us absorb the lesson that looks can be deceiving.

From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2026

France President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to "a great artist who transformed an Iranian childhood into a universal fable".

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026

As the cautionary 1945 fable “Animal Farm” memorably shows, George Orwell had some thoughts about the Soviet Union and the terrible folly in politicized moralism.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026

Like pilgrims in a fable swallowed up and lost among the inward parts of some granitic beast.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

Sem-Sandberg marveled at Carson’s use of the myths, characters, stories and fables from that time, and the way she puts them into a modern context.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

Since eating the rich is in fashion, heist stories are the heroic fables of our time.

From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026

Likewise, Schoenbrun specializes in zeitgeisty fables about 21st century isolation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

“The Wayfinder” combines religious myths, ecological fables and nationalist origin stories into a thrilling hero’s quest.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025

We are like the twins in old fables, each of whom has been given half a key.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

The result is Australia's fabled foursome now have 607 wickets in Tests in which they have played as a quartet.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

The meeting at Burnham's Downing Street office and residence came after the leaders celebrated bilateral ties with King Charles III at a preview of the fabled Bayeux Tapestry in London on Wednesday.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

Parton also won a Liseberg Applause Award, the biggest prize in the theme park industry, for her fabled tourist attraction Dollywood.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

The Welsh-born, 38-year-old engineer has logged hundreds of laps on Germany’s fabled Nürburgring Nordschleife purifying Bentley’s quintessences.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

This Ser Cleos Frey was a son of the Lady Genna who was sister to Lord Tywin Lannister, but he had none of the fabled Lannister beauty, the fair hair and green eyes.

From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin

If I marry Again sounds like one of those pulpy domestic morals with which the jaded directors are so fond of fabling.

From Time Magazine Archive

And yet, fair bow, no fabling dreams,   But words of the Most High, Have told why first thy robe of beams   Was woven in the sky.

From Bible Stories and Religious Classics by Philip P. Wells

Not of a fatal malady, I own; his cough misled you, and he has no scruples in fabling to any extent.

From Kitty's Class Day and Other Stories by Louisa May Alcott

It confutes, according to the knight's own ideas: it alleges a few scattered facts in favour of astrological predictions, which may be picked up in that immensity of fabling which disgraces history.

From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 by Isaac Disraeli

And yet, fair bow, no fabling dreams, But words of the Most High, Have told why first thy robe of beams Was woven in the sky.

From The Home Book of Verse — Volume 3 by Burton Egbert Stevenson

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Related Words

• fantasy
• fiction
• legend
• myth
• parable
• tale
• yarn

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