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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

Derived 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.

The first short story that will run in Drafting is an 1,800-word tale based on the Showtime cable series “The L Word” and written by Ilene Chaiken, the show’s co-creator and another co-founder of Run-A-Muck.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026

“The story continues as a short story, and maybe those shorts turn into novels, maybe those shorts turn into a serialized vertical series,” said Drucker Mann.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026

He was reviewing the 1968 television movie “The Thanksgiving Visitor,” an adaptation of the Truman Capote short story.

From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 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

Du Bois included in his seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk, a brilliant but haunting short story.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

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