tale

[ teyl ]

noun

1. a narrative that relates the details of some real or imaginary event, incident, or case; story:

   a tale about Lincoln's dog.

2. a literary composition having the form of such a narrative.
3. a falsehood; lie.
4. a rumor or piece of gossip, often malicious or untrue.
5. the full number or amount.
6. Archaic. enumeration; count.
7. Obsolete. talk; discourse.

tale

/ teɪl /

noun

1. a report, narrative, or story
2. one of a group of short stories connected by an overall narrative framework
3. 1. a malicious or meddlesome rumour or piece of gossip

      to bear tales against someone

   2. ( in combination )

      talebearer

      taleteller

4. a fictitious or false statement
5. tell tales
   tell tales
   1. to tell fanciful lies
   2. to report malicious stories, trivial complaints, etc, esp to someone in authority
6. tell a tale
   tell a tale to reveal something important
7. tell its own tale
   tell its own tale to be self-evident
8. archaic.
   1. a number; amount
   2. computation or enumeration
9. See talk
   an obsolete word for talk

Word History and Origins

Origin of tale¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English talu series, list, narrative, story; cognate with Dutch taal speech, language, German Zahl number, Old Norse tala number, speech. See tell ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of tale¹

Old English talu list; related to Old Frisian tele talk, Old Saxon, Old Norse tala talk, number, Old High German zala number

Idioms and Phrases

see old wives' tale ; tall tale ; tell tales ; thereby hangs a tale .

Example Sentences

If tales are true, he’s one of the biggest bullies Washington has ever seen.

From Time

OZY and History’s newest podcast, The Food That Built America, tells the tale.

From Ozy

Through interviews with both of them and members of their families, Glaser is able to meticulously re-create their tale.

From Washington Post

The tragedy, of course, is that Spears still can’t tell that tale herself.

From Washington Post

In this 2018 book, Miller lets Circe take center stage, imagining what filled all the space between her appearances in ancient tales.

From Outside Online

As an example of good science-and-society policymaking, the history of fluoride may be more of a cautionary tale.

From The Daily Beast

Not that the demonstration had anything to do with this couple, whom Sarah seems to see as a fairy tale come to life.

From The Daily Beast

Were the fairy-tale true it really would shame the affluent west.

From The Daily Beast

Whilst Whitacre never defined himself as an “ally,” this remains a cautionary tale of what not to do.

From The Daily Beast

Urban America is often portrayed as a tale of two kinds of places, those that “have it” and those who do not.

From The Daily Beast

But he was ignorant of that part of the horrid tale; and the Duke, in a milder voice, bade him rise.

From Project Gutenberg

Never had Punch secured the telling of that tale with so little opposition.

From Project Gutenberg

The tailor of the fairy tale with his "seven at a blow" is not in it with the gunnery Lieutenant of a battleship.

From Project Gutenberg

Until very recently little has been known of the strange land in which the subject of this tale lives.

From Project Gutenberg

That was how I learnt the strangest tale that ever a man was told, and knew the miracle to which I owed my life.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• account
• anecdote
• fable
• fiction
• legend
• myth
• narrative
• novel
• short story
• yarn