parable

[par-uh-buhl]

noun

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

   Synonyms: apologue, homily, allegory

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

parable

/ ˈpærəbəl, pəˈræbəlɪst /

noun

1. a short story that uses familiar events to illustrate a religious or ethical point

2. any of the stories of this kind told by Jesus Christ

Other Word Forms

• parabolist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of parable¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English parabil, from Late Latin parabola “allegory, comparison, word,” from Greek parabolḗ “comparison,” from para- para- ¹ + bolḗ “a throw”

Word History and Origins

Origin of parable¹

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

Example Sentences

Much of “Flour” is concerned with the woman’s conversation with her driver about a parable from the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas that he is translating from Coptic—a tale, he says, about emptiness and unknowing.

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It stands as a parable of modernism and its reception.

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But this is a parable about the perils of public ownership of the means of producing anything, especially news.

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Mr. Bottum’s use of a reference in a parable to prove a specific doctrine is also exegetically wooden, failing to acknowledge the nature of that genre.

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Liberals are spinning the cartoonist’s plight as a parable of America’s horrific private medical system.

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Related Words

• fable 
• tale