fable
Americannoun
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fables
plural
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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.
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a story not founded on fact.
This biography is largely a self-laudatory fable.
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a story about supernatural or extraordinary persons or incidents; legend.
the fables of gods and heroes.
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legends or myths collectively.
the heroes of Greek fable.
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an untruth; falsehood.
This boast of a cure is a medical fable.
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the plot of an epic, a dramatic poem, or a play.
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idle talk.
old wives' fables.
verb (used without object)
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to tell or write fables.
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to speak falsely; lie.
to fable about one's past.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a short moral story, esp one with animals as characters
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a false, fictitious, or improbable account; fiction or lie
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a story or legend about supernatural or mythical characters or events
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legends or myths collectively
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archaic the plot of a play or of an epic or dramatic poem
verb
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to relate or tell (fables)
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(intr) to speak untruthfully; tell lies
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(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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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
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.
Vocabulary lists containing fable
Ancient Greece - Introductory
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Literary Genres - Introductory
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Reading: Literature - Literary Genres - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
There is something quite cruel and contrived in how Mr. Rock puts his protagonist through trials to serve his superficial Hollywood fable about the high price and sour smell of success.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
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
Even if I must be the outcast, cursed by the rules of his hideous fable.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
The historian’s duty, Mr. Sebag Montefiore writes, is to the facts, “but the fables and myths are important parts of the history too.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Likewise, Schoenbrun specializes in zeitgeisty fables about 21st century isolation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
This is a film 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
That Niall finds Ruben so alluring is natural to Gadd, who believes the notion of a valiant male figure has been bred into everyone via fables and fairy tales.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2026
I loved to read about ancient Rome, and I was quicker than my brother to find the lessons in the fables of Aesop.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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
Weinstock’s experience is a sign of thriving times for London’s fabled theater district.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
They’re the fabled duo who first wrapped the arches of this same bridge in straw-colored fabric in 1985.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2026
In the confined space of the snake’s den there was no room to wield the fabled blade.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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
A wise old man—I believe he was a bishop—once said he knew "that outside the real world is a world of fine fabling."
From The Boss of Little Arcady by Harry Leon Wilson
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
The Italian Favellio, parlerie, babil, caquet—Alberti’s “Grand Dictionnaire”—does not wholly convey the idea of our modern Humbug, which combines fabling and caquet.
From Amenities of Literature Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature by Isaac Disraeli
If we could only believe forever, what a good world it could be—"a world of fine fabling," indeed!
From The Boss of Little Arcady by Harry Leon Wilson
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