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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Recent Examples of fables
Geminis have a tendency to speak of fables to protect themselves or to make their lives seem more fulfilling.
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Lisa Stardust, PEOPLE, 15 Dec. 2025
His movies — farces, fables, experiments — reside in surreal worlds of their own.
—Jake Coyle, Boston Herald, 24 Oct. 2025
Will there be fables about musical sand dunes on Mars?
—Literary Hub, 22 Oct. 2025
Gossip fed the frenzy of the Salem Witch Trials and has been the subtext of one too many fables where mischief masks moral rot.
—Oriel Feldmanhall, Time, 6 Oct. 2025
The Master is the greatest of them all, a movie peopled by characters who are at once intensely human and also the stuff of otherworldly fables.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2025
Modern horror is at the forefront of political movements and are the fables of our time.
—American Booksellers Association, USA Today, 23 Aug. 2025
Allusions to myths, fables, and riffs on common idioms abound, many of them evocative and quite funny.
—Lora Kelley, New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fables
Noun
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In these allegories of dehumanization, greed, and hope, Marshall takes an unvarnished view of his subjects, one that doesn’t sugarcoat the past or succumb to nostalgia for a mythical, precolonial Golden Age.—
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Part of a long tradition of both David and Goliath adaptations and illustrated renditions of Judeo-Christian allegories, the new musical drama is Angel Studio’s latest take on the iconic underdog story and a wholesome way to spend your afternoon.—
Noun
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She is revered in those regions, and oral tradition keeps her myths alive.—
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One year before Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire published their compendium of Greek myths, Cicellis released her second work of fiction, The Way to Colonos, which ruthlessly dramatizes the limits of individual freedom and the agony of facing one’s powerlessness.—
Noun
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Seth Rogen and his wife Lauren Miller swap funny tales with Sarah Silverman.—
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This week’s challenge tests your memory of 21st-century books that were inspired by ancient myths, legends and folk tales.—
Noun
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In June 2025, Peacock revealed the latest slate of celebrities set to battle it out in a high-stakes game of lies, alliances and betrayal inside a castle in the Scottish Highlands — all for a chance to win up to $250,000.—
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The characters are lying, to themselves and to each other, but the role of the audience in believing or not believing their lies is totally irrelevant.—
Noun
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What kind of message would prime Jeezy have presented without the pyrex parables in tow?—
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The wordplay is as colorful as the sonics are sedate, tag-team player parables sailing over production seeking a slippery middle ground between East and West Coast throwback jams.—
Noun
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Marwan Hamed and Yousry Nasrallah Two legends of Egyptian cinema, filmmaker Marwan Hamed, whose works are celebrated in IFFR’s 2026 retrospective, and director Yousry Nasrallah will discuss Hamed’s biopic El Sett (IFFR 2026) as well as highlights from their filmmaking careers.—
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Stingray's clue package mentioned their mom would host parties attended by music legends like Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder.—
Noun
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The vast encyclopedic architecture of Gravity’s Rainbow (1973) or Mason & Dixon (1997) gives way here to a series of detective fictions each set in a distinct historical moment, each featuring a reluctant investigator sifting through the wreckage of cultural paranoia.—
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The fictions that result, many so small and meaningless, can be accepted without much trouble.—
Noun
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Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.—
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Below, Dyens and Miailhe speak to Deadline about the importance of unearthing human stories amid the tragedy of the World War II era.—
Cite this Entry
“Fables.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fables. Accessed 14 Jan. 2026.
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