fable

American  

[fey-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

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fable fables fabled fabling

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

It doesn’t lose its way, yet doesn’t feel entirely confined to one place — a critical component that allows “Is God Is” to play like a modern biblical fable.

From Salon ● May 19, 2026

Her fable depicts twin sisters on a revenge road trip, seeking to right the wrongs of their early childhood at the behest of their estranged mother and find some catharsis along the way.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026

"Can you prove any word of this fable?"

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

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

Those movies proved there is a market for large-scale live-action fables employing practical and realistic special effects, along with massive sets built on location.

From Salon ● Jun. 24, 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

"The great thing about these movies is that they are like fables," Byron Howard, one of the two directors, told AFP in Los Angeles.

From Barron's ● Nov. 25, 2025

Anansi realized this when he received his prize from Nyame, so he created the Anansesem, his champion orators, like you, to carry his fables far and wide.

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

In episode 150 of his acclaimed podcast “A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs,” Andrew Hickey offers a recap/analysis of the fabled 1967 television series “The Prisoner.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

A frightening encounter with a fabled Sea Hag in the third episode turns dyed-in-the-wool skeptic Tom into a believer, allowing Rhys to exercise his pipes and impressive pitch.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026

Soaring ticket prices and extra security for US President Donald Trump do not alter the electric energy of fabled Madison Square Garden as it hosts games three and four of the NBA Finals.

From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026

Accompanied by HMS Terror, it was searching for the fabled Northwest Passage.

From BBC ● May 26, 2026

“If we do meet these fabled pirates, I may join up with them. I’ll tell them that my name is Hugor Halfinaester.”

From "A Dance with Dragons" 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

Tell, I pray thee, whence the gloomy spots Upon this body, which below on earth Give rise to talk of Cain in fabling quaint?”

From Curious Myths of the Middle Ages by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

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

But of that cathedral nothing is now left but a heap of fragments, and a stone, on which, fabling tradition says, Henry II. was reconciled to the Church after the murder of Becket.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 105, July 1866 by Various

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

Related Words

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