fables

noun

plural of fable
1
as in allegories
a story intended to teach a basic truth or moral about life this classic Christmas film is essentially a fable showing how every person's life has meaning and touches the lives of others

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2
as in myths
a traditional but unfounded story that gives the reason for a current custom, belief, or fact of nature according to an ancient fable the waters of the mountain spring are the tears of a woman weeping for her lost children

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3
as in tales
something that is the product of the imagination the stories of lost cities of gold may have been fables deliberately concocted by Native Americans to dupe the Spanish

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in lies
a statement known by its maker to be untrue and made in order to deceive the fables that people tell themselves to rationalize their failures and shortcomings

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of fables Both fables and translations are forms of constrained writing. — Jan Steyn, The Dial, 10 Mar. 2026 Fortnum & Mason does not need a goose from Aesop’s fables to have a golden egg. — Air Mail, 4 Apr. 2026 My dad’s stories about his grade-school experience felt like dark fables, peppered with slurs hurled at him by classmates. — Rachel Tepper Paley, Bon Appetit Magazine, 1 July 2026 That Niall finds Ruben so alluring is natural to Gadd, who believes the notion of a valiant male figure has been bred into everyone via fables and fairy tales. — Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 2026 The novel has a freewheeling spirit that recalls Italo Calvino’s space fables in Cosmicomics. — Literary Hub, 11 June 2026 The Syfy-channel TV show Channel Zero uses some of the best known of these fables as fodder for serialized storytelling. — David Sims, The Atlantic, 27 May 2026 The collection spans centuries of storytelling in multiple genres, from migratory fairytales with kings and princesses to legends of ghosts and the Devil to fables with talking animals. — Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 7 June 2026 Explore the Wild West from the back of a rickety wagon as characters share famed fables about Paul Bunyan, Babe the Blue Ox, Pecos Bill, John Henry and Hekeke. — Lesly Gregory, AJC.com, 1 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fables
  1. allegories
  2. myths
  3. tales
  4. lies
  5. parables
  6. legends
  7. fictions
  8. stories
Noun
  • There are allegories that can be read about fear of the unknown breeding cruelty and exploitation, but Disclosure Day is first and foremost a propulsive yarn with thematic roots in hope, truth, empathy and perhaps even spirituality.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 9 June 2026
  • Sci-fi stories about alien invasions have often functioned as political allegories for anxieties around empire and immigration, Lechuga says.
    — Harmeet Kaur, CNN Money, 3 June 2026
Definition of allegories
Noun
  • After all, the best myths take our normal heroes-and-villains binary and punt it into a million pieces.
    — AJ Willingham, AJC.com, 6 July 2026
  • But myths don’t need receipts, and this one has endured for nearly a thousand years.
    — Michele MetychAll, Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 July 2026
Definition of myths
Noun
  • By Christopher Arnott Even tales as old as time need to get told a different way every once in a while.
    — Tribune News Service, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 July 2026
  • Everything else in these tales of Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister can be a bit over-amped and over-stylized.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 1 July 2026
Definition of tales
Noun
  • Finally, reality itself has a way of fighting back against lies and propaganda.
    — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 3 July 2026
  • Seems like far too many appreciate this type of corruption, and making money on SM for lies, is precisely that.
    — Zach Dean OutKick, FOXNews.com, 2 July 2026
Definition of lies
Noun
  • Apparently all mothers, even surrogate mothers, were alike, but at least Adele no longer had to fear monitory parables from her real mother.
    — Jonathan Franzen, New Yorker, 1 June 2026
  • On Sundays, O’Neal’s father preached hope from the pulpit, stories of his family intertwined with morals and truths and parables.
    — Courtney Crowder, USA Today, 10 Apr. 2026
Definition of parables
Noun
  • Like Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed fighting to exhaustion, the two aging legends will look to do the same with a round-of-16 spot on the line.
    — David Hickey, NBC news, 2 July 2026
  • Now, Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon, two WNBA legends, will serve as general managers and select their rosters among the 22 All-Stars who get the opportunity to represent their teams in Chicago.
    — Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 2 July 2026
Definition of legends
Noun
  • Invasion fictions tended to spring up in response to each new form of invasion panic.
    — Ivan Kreilkamp, JSTOR Daily, 10 June 2026
  • The program also happens to be in line with one of the president’s convenient rhetorical fictions.
    — Will Gottsegen, The Atlantic, 21 May 2026
Definition of fictions
Noun
  • Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
    — Data Skrive, New York Times, 5 July 2026
  • The history of Kaskaskia is full of stories of resilience and stubborn pride, but also of the inevitability of nature.
    — Andrew Carter, Chicago Tribune, 5 July 2026
Definition of stories

Browse Nearby Words

fabled
fables
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Cite this Entry

“Fables.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fables. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of fables for Spanish Speakers

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