short story
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of short story
First recorded in 1885–90
Compare meaning
How does short-story compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.
In his short story “Intimacy,” Raymond Carver uses the metaphor of “dead leaves” to describe the unresolved wounds between the narrator and his ex-wife.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
Noir fans will recognize the title as belonging to a short story by William Irish, the pen name of that master of unease, Cornell Woolrich.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
When Dame Hilary published her original short story in 2014, its title was meant to provoke a reaction, according to playwright Alexandra Wood.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
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
He was not even allowed to republish an article about literary ciphers in Edgar Allan Poe’s nineteenth-century short story “The Gold-Bug.”
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
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.
