| Main Entry: | fish story |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | exaggerated story |
Synonyms: |
bunk, cock-and-bull story, embellishment, exaggeration, farfetched story, incredible story, lie, overstatement, tall story, tall tale, trumped-up story, yarn |
| Main Entry: | alibi |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | defense against charges of wrongdoing; evidence of absence |
Synonyms: |
account, affirmation, airtight case, allegation, answer, assertion, assurance, avowal, case, cop-out, cover, declaration, excuse, explanation, fish story, justification, plea, pretext, profession, proof, reason, reply, retort, song and dance, stall, statement, vindication |
| Notes: | an alias is an assumed name, an alibi is a form of defense whereby a defendant attempts to prove that he or she was elsewhere when the crime in question was committed, while an excuse is an explanation offered to justify or obtain forgiveness |
| Main Entry: | anecdote |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | interesting or amusing story |
Synonyms: |
chestnut, episode, fairy tale, fish story, gag, incident, long and short of it, narration, narrative, old chestnut, recital, relation, reminiscence, short story, sketch, tale, tall story, tall tale, yarn |
| Main Entry: | defense |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | explanation, justification |
Synonyms: |
answer, apologetics, apologia, apologizing, apology, argument, cleanup, copout, exculpation, excuse, excusing, exoneration, explaining, extenuation, fish story, jive, off-time, plea, rationalization, rejoinder, reply, response, retort, return, song and dance, story, vindication, whitewash |
Antonyms: |
betrayal, capitulation, yielding |
| Main Entry: | exaggeration |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | overstatement, embellishment |
Synonyms: |
aggrandizement, amplification, baloney, boasting, caricature, coloring, crock, elaboration, embroidery, emphasis, enlargement, exaltation, excess, extravagance, fabrication, falsehood, fancy, fantasy, figure of speech, fish story, flight of fancy, hogwash, hyperbole, inflation, jazz, line*, magnification, misjudgment, misrepresentation, overemphasis, overestimation, pretension, pretentiousness, rant, romance, stretch, tall story, untruth, whopper, yarn |
Antonyms: |
minimization, reduction, understatement, unembellishment |
| Main Entry: | excuse |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | reason, explanation |
Synonyms: |
alibi, apology, cleanup, cop-out, cover story, cover*, coverup, defense, disguise, evasion, expedient, extenuation, fish story, grounds, jive, justification, makeshift, mitigation, plea, pretext, rationalization, regrets, routine, semblance, shift, song and dance, song*, stall, stopgap, story, substitute, subterfuge, trick*, vindication, whitewash, why and wherefore |
| 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 |
Antonyms: |
truth |
| Main Entry: | fiction |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | made-up story |
Synonyms: |
anecdote, best seller, book, cliff-hanger, clothesline, concoction, crock, drama, fable, fabrication, falsehood, fancy, fantasy, fib, figment of imagination, fish story, hooey, imagination, improvisation, invention, legend, lie, misrepresentation, myth, narrative, novel, potboiler, prevarication, romance, smoke*, storytelling, tale, tall story, terminological inexactitude, untruth, whopper, work of imagination, yarn |
Antonyms: |
non-fiction, truth |
| Main Entry: | sensationalism |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | exaggeration |
Synonyms: |
aggrandizement, boasting, excess, fabrication, fish story, hype, hyperbole, overemphasis, puffery, tabloid journalism, tall story, whopper, yellow journalism |
| Main Entry: | big talk |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | boastful talk |
Synonyms: |
boasting, bragging, exaggeration, fancy talk, fine talk, fish story, gas, hogwash, hot air, self-aggrandizing, tall story, tall talk |