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:
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
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
“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
"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
We’ve long been sold fables about robots yearning to be more human — to love us, guard us and sympathize with us before replacing us.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2025
At night, instead of my mother telling stories, I would tell stories of Hansel and Gretel, Pinocchio, Cinderella and the fables of Aesop.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
Weinstock’s experience is a sign of thriving times for London’s fabled theater district.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
Shaun Edwards' departure from France's national team is being negotiated, with the fabled defence coach set to be without a role a year out from the Rugby World Cup.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 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
He had friends in all of the Nine Free Cities, it was said, and even beyond, in Vaes Dothrak and the fabled lands beside the Jade Sea.
From "A Game of Thrones" 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
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
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
"But 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 Moon Lore by Timothy Harley
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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
