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FABLES

 - 2 dictionary results

fa·ble

   [fey-buhl] noun, verb,-bled, -bling.
–noun
1.
a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters; apologue: the fable of the tortoise and the hare; Aesop's fables.
2.
a story not founded on fact: This biography is largely a self-laudatory fable.
3.
a story about supernatural or extraordinary persons or incidents; legend: the fables of gods and heroes.
4.
legends or myths collectively: the heroes of Greek fable.
5.
an untruth; falsehood: This boast of a cure is a Medical fable.
6.
the plot of an epic, a dramatic poem, or a play.
7.
idle talk: old wives' fables.
–verb (used without object)
8.
to tell or write fables.
9.
to speak falsely; lie: to fable about one's past.
–verb (used with object)
10.
to describe as if actually so; talk about as if true: She is fabled to be the natural daughter of a king.
Use FABLES in a Sentence
Origin:
1250–1300; ME fable, fabel, fabul < AF, OF < L fābula a story, tale, equiv. to fā(rī) to speak + -bula suffix of instrument

—Related forms
fabler, noun
outfable, verb (used with object),-bled, -bling.
un·fa·bling, adjective

—Can be confused: fable, legend, myth (see synonym note at legend).

—Synonyms
1. See legend.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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Word Origin & History

fable
c.1300, from O.Fr. fable, from L. fabula "story, play, fable," lit. "that which is told," from fari "speak, tell," from PIE base *bha- "speak" (see fame). Sense of "animal story" comes from Aesop. In modern folklore terms, defined as "a short, comic tale making a moral point about human nature, usually through animal characters behaving in human ways." Most trace to Greece or India.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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