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Synonyms

short story

American  

noun

  1. a piece of prose fiction, usually under 10,000 words.

short story British  

noun

  1. a prose narrative of shorter length than the novel, esp one that concentrates on a single theme

"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

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of short story

First recorded in 1885–90

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Before she was a bestselling romance novelist, Carley Fortune had never so much as written a short story or taken an adult creative writing class.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026

The short story made its way into Thomas' best-known collection of short stories, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, which was published in 1940.

From BBC • Apr. 30, 2026

Which she does in a performance that has the tight focus of a good short story and the theatrical immediacy of what might be called a narrative cabaret.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2026

Xuan Juliana Wang is author of the short story collection “Home Remedies” and assistant professor of English at UCLA.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 12, 2026

"Let me tell you a short story," she says.

From "Legend" by Marie Lu

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.