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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

  • short-story adjective

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.

Galsworthy did not take up these characters again until 1918 when he wrote a radiant, nostalgic short story called “Indian Summer of a Forsyte.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

The video could be seen as a reference to 88-year-old Sir Anthony's latest project, as he is set to start shooting a film based on a short story by Thomas based in the Welsh countryside.

From BBC • Mar. 23, 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

The project, based on a short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, took 14 years to bring to the screen, but got seven Oscar nominations in 1984.

From Barron's • Mar. 11, 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.