parable
- 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.
Origin of parable
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for parables
Contemporary Examples
Parables of complex societal problems being solved in a simple way by a pure-minded child are ubiquitous in North Korean culture.
From here on, he was a philosopher, a sage, and his interviews were stuffed full of dicta, parables and eternal paradoxes.
The imaginative Raami turns within, summoning the parables, poems, dignity, humility, and wisdom of her father.
The stories, most of them very short, have the blunt, evocative effect of parables or campfire tales.
Historical Examples
In connexion with hair like that one must speak in parables.
Alarms and DiscursionsG. K. Chesterton
The most beautiful fictions ever written were the parables of the Savior.
What is true of proverbs, is true of all fables, parables, and allegories.
NatureRalph Waldo Emerson
Whittier said, "But do they not always have an application, like the parables?"
Whittier-landSamuel T. Pickard
"The Bible is filled with parables," said Mr. Talmadge, simply.
'Smiles'Eliot H. Robinson
parable
- 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
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for parables
parable
n.
mid-13c., parabol, modern form from early 14c., "saying or story in which something is expressed in terms of something else," from Old French parable "parable, parabolic style in writing" (13c.), from Latin parabola "comparison," from Greek parabole "a comparison, parable," literally "a throwing beside," hence "a juxtaposition," from para- "alongside" (see para- (1)) + bole "a throwing, casting, beam, ray," related to ballein "to throw" (see ballistics).
Replaced Old English bispell. In Vulgar Latin, parabola took on the meaning "word," hence Italian parlare, French parler "to speak" (see parley (n.)).
parables
In the New Testament, the stories told by Jesus to convey his religious message; they include the parable of the Good Samaritan and that of the Prodigal Son.