| Main Entry: | parable |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | moral story |
Synonyms: |
allegory, fable, legend, lesson, tale, teaching |
| Main Entry: | allegory |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | indirect representation, storytelling |
Synonyms: |
apologue, emblem, fable, figuration, moral, myth, parable, story, symbol, symbolism, symbolization, tale, typification |
| Main Entry: | enigma |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | mystery |
Synonyms: |
Gordian knot, bewilderment, cliffhanger, conundrum, crux, cryptogram, grabber, knot*, mind-boggler, mind-twister, mystification, parable, perplexity, problem, puzzle, puzzlement, puzzler, question, question mark, riddle, secret, sixty-four dollar question, sphinx, sticker, stickler, stumper, teaser, tough nut to crack, twister, why* |
| Main Entry: | fable |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | fantasy, story |
Synonyms: |
allegory, apologue, bestiary, bunk, crock, fabrication, fairy story, fairy tale, falsehood, fantasy, fib, fiction, figment, fish story, hogwash, invention, legend, lie, myth, old chestnut, old saw, one for the birds, parable, romance, tale, tall story, untruth, white lie, whopper, yarn |
| Notes: | a fable is a short instructional tale, while a fairytale (or fairy tale) is told as amusement |
Antonyms: |
truth |
| Main Entry: | figure of speech |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | turn of expression |
Synonyms: |
adumbration, allegory, alliteration, allusion, analogue, analogy, anaphora, anticlimax, antistrophe, antithesis, aposiopesis, apostrophe, asyndeton, bathos, communication that is not meant literally; stylistic device, comparison, conceit, device, echoism, ellipsis, euphemism, euphuism, exaggeration, expression, flourish, flower, hyperbole, image, imagery, irony, litotes, malapropism, manner of speaking, metaphor, metonymy, onomatopoeia, ornament, oxymoron, parable, paradox, parallel, personification, proteron, rhetoric, sarcasm, satire, simile, synecdoche, trope, tropology, turn of phrase, understatement, way of speaking |
| Main Entry: | myth |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | fictitious story, often ancient |
Synonyms: |
allegory, apologue, creation, delusion, fable, fabrication, fairy story, fancy, fantasy, fiction, figment, folk ballad, folk tale, illusion, imagination, invention, legend, lore, mythos, parable, saga, superstition, tale, tall story, tradition |
Antonyms: |
fact, non-fiction, truth |
| Main Entry: | story |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | account, news |
Synonyms: |
adventure, allegory, anecdote, apologue, article, autobiography, beat, biography, book, chronicle, cliffhanger, comedy, conte, description, drama, epic, fable, fairy tale, fantasy, feature, fiction, folktale, gag, history, information, legend, long and short of it, memoir, myth, narration, narrative, news item, nonfiction, novel, old saw, parable, potboiler, recital, record, relation, report, romance, saga, scoop*, sequel, serial, spiel*, tale, tragedy, version, yarn |
| Main Entry: | old wives' tale |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | popular belief |
Synonyms: |
allegory, fable, fallacy, false belief, false knowledge, folklore, legend, lore, moral, myth, parable, story, superstition, superstitious belief, tale, tradition, yarn |
| Main Entry: | apologue |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | legend |
Synonyms: |
allegory, fable, parable, story |
| Main Entry: | similitude |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | resemblance |
Synonyms: |
allegory, analogy, comparison, counterpart, likeness, parable, replica, semblance, similarity, simile |
Antonyms: |
difference, dissimilarity |