saga

American  

[sah-guh] / ˈsɑ gə /

noun

• sagas
  plural

1. a medieval Icelandic or Norse prose narrative of achievements and events in the history of a personage, family, etc.

2. any narrative or legend of heroic exploits.

   Synonyms:

   history, tale, epic

3. Also called saga novel. a form of the novel in which the members or generations of a family or social group are chronicled in a long and leisurely narrative.

4. a dramatic history of a group, place, industry, etc..

   the saga of the transcontinental railroad.

5. any very long story with dramatic events or parts.

   the sad saga of her life in poverty.

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saga British  

/ ˈsɑːɡə /

noun

1. any of several medieval prose narratives written in Iceland and recounting the exploits of a hero or a family

2. any similar heroic narrative

3. Also called: saga novel. a series of novels about several generations or members of a family

4. any other artistic production said to resemble a saga

5. informal a series of events or a story stretching over a long period

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sagas
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of saga

First recorded in 1700–10; from Old Norse: literally, “story, narrative, history”; cognate with saw ³

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Explanation

When your friend tells you every detail of how she tripped over a rock, broke her ankle, and then got into a car accident on the way to the hospital, she is sharing a long, involved story known as a saga. The word saga has its origins in the Middle Ages. In those days, a saga was an historical tale of the first families who lived in Norway or Iceland. Today the word is used to describe a very complicated or detailed series of events. A saga is the kind of long, drawn-out story that can cause the people who hear it to roll their eyes in boredom.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

saga sagas

The three main players in this saga are Disney, Netflix, and Skydance Corporation.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

The movie is this year’s Spanish entry for best international feature at the Oscars, and it seems likely to do well there as a handsomely crafted historical saga that is quite grand, if frequently grandiose.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Their voices are notably, strangely absent from your retelling of this family saga.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

It will be very difficult for City to keep that level of player in the coming months and years while the saga plays out.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

Nero looked like a prince from some saga told by firelight, all luster and gleam.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Whether in the films beloved by the Wu-Tang or the animated sagas Megan favors, characters battle not simply for survival but to achieve mastery.

From Salon ● May 31, 2026

He liked to play loudly, for many hours at a time, improvising ceaseless and whipsawing sagas of frenetic melodies and emphatic blaring and screeching—it was a whole lot of sound.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026

Blanchet argued that today's resurgence in beloved pop-culture sagas is part of the "routine functioning" of the industry, rather than representing any kind of "renewal".

From Barron's ● May 26, 2026

That being said, Jacir’s fourth feature — packed as it is with storylines — could stand a bit more context and fewer of the expositional traps that big-cast sagas easily fall into.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2026

Ever since then, we know that those people who can make magic with their words, who can make poems and sagas and weave tales, have tasted the mead of poetry.

From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman

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