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folk tale

or folk·tale

See more synonyms for folk tale on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a tale or legend originating and traditional among a people or folk, especially one forming part of the oral tradition of the common people.
  2. any belief or story passed on traditionally, especially one considered to be false or based on superstition.
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Origin of folk tale

First recorded in 1890–95
Also called folk story.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

legend, myth, tradition

Examples from the Web for folk tale

Historical Examples

  • These conditions are twice fulfilled in the history of a folk-tale.

    The Science of Fairy Tales

    Edwin Sidney Hartland

  • And for this reason also "Mary, Mary" has an inner resemblance to a folk-tale.

    Mary, Mary

    James Stephens

  • In the development of the folk-tale, we can in a general way mark three grades.

    Homer's Odyssey

    Denton J. Snider

  • It is not accidental but persistent savagery we meet with in the folk-tale.

  • It ignores it, and confines the problem to legend and folk-tale.

British Dictionary definitions for folk tale

folk tale

folk story

noun
  1. a tale or legend originating among a people and typically becoming part of an oral tradition
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012