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

Fischer and Wilson’s bawdy fable is predominately about how this flammable hunk makes the rest of the villagers burn up with jealousy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 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

What survives in the ashes of McCarthy’s fable is the elemental love that bonds a parent and a child.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 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

I meant why was she alive and not just a fable, but Gum Baby misunderstood.

From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia

Skarsgård adds that the comedy of “Wicker” lets the cast and crew subvert traditional fables and sagas, or even George Bernard Shaw’s classic “Pygmalion” story.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026

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

It’s about good versus evil, gods versus monsters — the fables we’ve been telling since the beginning of time, and why they will be with us until the end.

From Salon ● May 19, 2026

Interlaced with the prosaic reflections are a series of fables involving inhabitants from the present and past.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025

Whereas my father once told stories of historic battles and heroic Xhosa warriors, my mother would enchant us with Xhosa legends and fables that had come down from numberless generations.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

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

WETZLAR, Germany—When Andreas Kaufmann used his inheritance to buy Leica, the fabled camera maker was close to bankruptcy, with new digital technology putting it at risk of extinction.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

Ned Ludd was the fabled hero of the early-19th-century Luddites, who smashed stocking frames—knitting machines for socks—and burned factories to protest job-destroying technology.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 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

From the beginning, there was a huge difference in the way Parks Canada conducted its search from all the previous hunts for the two fabled ships: finally, they prioritized seeking information using oral histories.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler

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

"I think him worthy of the greatest praise for the many new and true observations which he has made, to the disgrace of so many vain and fabling authors."

From A History of Science — Volume 2 by Henry Smith Williams

From a very child I loved all fancies marvellous and wild; I turned from truth, to listen to the lore Of many an old and fabling troubadour.

From The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. 1 With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan by George Gilfillan

With thy fabling and thy reasoning, i-wis,      I am beguiled; but I have known thee ere this:      Art not Celestine, that dwelleth by the river side?

From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 1 by William Carew Hazlitt

Ah! why do fabling poets tell That thy fleet wings outstrip the wind?

From Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume I (of 10) by J. G. (John Gibson) Lockhart

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Related Words

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

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