parable

[ par-uh-buhl ]

/ ˈpær ə bəl /

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See synonyms for: parable / parables on Thesaurus.com

noun

a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson.

a statement or comment that conveys a meaning indirectly by the use of comparison, analogy, or the like.

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OTHER WORDS FOR parable

1 allegory, homily, apologue.

See synonyms for parable on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of parable

1275–1325; Middle English parabil<Late Latin parabola comparison, parable, word <Greek parabolḗ comparison, equivalent to para-para-¹ + bolḗ a throwing

OTHER WORDS FROM parable

pa·rab·o·list

[puh-rab-uh-list], /pəˈræb ə lɪst/, noun

Words nearby parable

parabasal body, parabasis, paraben, parabiosis, parablast, parable, parablepsia, parables, parabola, parabolic, parabolic aerial

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use parable in a sentence

That interpretation is visible in the movie’s design, with the Round Table and the castle rendered in dull, almost industrial grays and harsh lighting, and there are ways to read the film as an environmental parable, too.
The Green Knight is glorious and a little baffling. Let’s untangle it.|Alissa Wilkinson|July 30, 2021|Vox
The investment was also a depressing parable for capitalism today.
How Juul found success: Innovation and addiction|James Hirsch|July 23, 2021|Washington Post
Some of his encounters over the past few days have felt like contemporary parables, King says.
Why Would You Walk from D.C. to New York?|Martin Fritz Huber|April 22, 2021|Outside Online
It was a parable about “what is relevant is life — not worrying about ideology, about politics, about whether he is a commie or a capitalist.”
Bernard Lown, physician who rallied doctors against nuclear war, dies at 99|Emily Langer|February 18, 2021|Washington Post

Longevity research always reminds me of the parable of blind men and an elephant.
Another Win for Senolytics: Fighting Aging at the Cellular Level Just Got Easier|Shelly Fan|November 24, 2020|Singularity Hub
The anecdote is a perfect parable for the power and ignorance of artistic patrons.
Great Renaissance Art Thrived Amid Filth|Nick Romeo|December 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He recounts a parable that has long been a staple of dairy farm folklore.
The Secret to This Ice Cream: Pampered Cows|Jane & Michael Stern|May 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Expecting otherwise is enough to make one recite the parable of the Old Woman and the Snake.
Which Team Will Make History With Michael Sam Tonight?|Robert Silverman|May 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
What seems at first to be novel about gender inequity gradually reveals itself to be a parable about social class.
American Dreams, 1924: ‘So Big’ by Edna Ferber|Nathaniel Rich|March 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Equilateral can be read as a parable of the ways we blind ourselves through vanity, love, and greed.
The 2013 Novel of the Year Is…|Nathaniel Rich|December 30, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The resurrection of Lazarus is a transparent fabrication out of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
Solomon and Solomonic Literature|Moncure Daniel Conway
So I have had to convey my precepts insensibly to Milord K.—to convey them in homeopathic doses of parable.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton
Here is Christianity with its marvellous parable of the Prodigal Son to teach us indulgence and pardon.
Camille (La Dame aux Camilias)|Alexandre Dumas, fils
The moral of the parable of the ten talents is eminently true in matters of learning.
Thoughts on Educational Topics and Institutions|George S. Boutwell
It 148 was rather the parable of family life that I read in this succession of fair faces and shapely bodies.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume XXI|Robert Louis Stevenson

British Dictionary definitions for parable

parable

/ (ˈpærəbəl) /

noun

a short story that uses familiar events to illustrate a religious or ethical pointRelated adjectives: parabolic, parabolical

any of the stories of this kind told by Jesus Christ

Derived forms of parable

parabolist (pəˈræbəlɪst), noun

Word Origin for parable

C14: from Old French parabole, from Latin parabola comparison, from Greek parabolē analogy, from paraballein to throw alongside, from para- 1 + ballein to throw

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

parable

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Origin of parable

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How to use parable in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for parable

Derived forms of parable

Word Origin for parable