Parable - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

par·a·ble

Audio Help [par-uh-buh

l] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson.

2.	a statement or comment that conveys a meaning indirectly by the use of comparison, analogy, or the like.

[Origin: 1275–1325; ME parabil < LL parabola comparison, parable, word < Gk parabol comparison, equiv. to para- para-¹ + bol a throwing

]

—Related forms

pa·rab·o·list

Audio Help [puh-rab-uh-list] Pronunciation Key, noun

—Synonyms 1. allegory, homily, apologue.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Parable

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

par·a·ble Audio Help (pār'ə-bəl) Pronunciation Key
n. A simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin parabola, from Greek parabolē, from paraballein, to compare : para-, beside; see para-¹ + ballein, to throw; see g^welə- in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
parable

c.1325, "saying or story in which something is expressed in terms of something else," from O.Fr. parable, from L. parabola "comparison," from Gk. parabole "a comparison, parable," lit. "a throwing beside," from para- "alongside" + bole "a throwing, casting," related to ballein "to throw." Replaced O.E. bispell. In V.L. parabola took on the meaning "word," hence It. parlare, Fr. parler "to speak."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

parable
noun
1.	a short moral story (often with animal characters) [syn: fable]
2.	(New Testament) any of the stories told by Jesus to convey his religious message; "the parable of the prodigal son"

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
parable [ˈpӕrəbl] noun

a story (especially in the Bible) which is intended to teach a lesson
Example: Jesus told parables.

Arabic:	مَثَل
Chinese (Simplified):	寓言
Chinese (Traditional):	寓言
Czech:	podobenství
Danish:	parabel
Dutch:	parabel
Estonian:	mõistujutt
Finnish:	vertaus
French:	parabole
German:	die Parabel
Greek:	παραβολή
Hungarian:	példázat
Icelandic:	dæmisaga
Indonesian:	perumpamaan
Italian:	parabola

Japanese:	たとえ話
Korean:	우화(寓話), 비유담
Latvian:	līdzība; alegorija
Lithuanian:	parabolė, didaktinė alegorija
Norwegian:	liknelse
Polish:	przypowieść
Portuguese (Brazil):	parábola
Portuguese (Portugal):	parábola
Romanian:	parabolă
Russian:	притча
Slovak:	podobenstvo
Slovenian:	prilika
Spanish:	parábola
Swedish:	parabel, liknelse
Turkish:	dinî öykü, kıssa

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Parable

Al"le*go*ry\, n.; pl. Allegories. [L. allegoria, Gr. ?, description of one thing under the image of another; ? other + ? to speak in the assembly, harangue, ? place of assembly, fr. ? to assemble: cf. F. all['e]gorie.]

1. A figurative sentence or discourse, in which the principal subject is described by another subject resembling it in its properties and circumstances. The real subject is thus kept out of view, and we are left to collect the intentions of the writer or speaker by the resemblance of the secondary to the primary subject.

2. Anything which represents by suggestive resemblance; an emblem.

3. (Paint. & Sculpt.) A figure representation which has a meaning beyond notion directly conveyed by the object painted or sculptured.

Syn: Metaphor; fable.

Usage: Allegory, Parable. "An allegory differs both from fable and parable, in that the properties of persons are fictitiously represented as attached to things, to which they are as it were transferred. . . . A figure of Peace and Victory crowning some historical personage is an allegory. "I am the Vine, ye are the branches" [--John xv. 1-6] is a spoken allegory. In the parable there is no transference of properties. The parable of the sower [--Matt. xiii. 3-23] represents all things as according to their proper nature. In the allegory quoted above the properties of the vine and the relation of the branches are transferred to the person of Christ and His apostles and disciples." --C. J. Smith.

Note: An allegory is a prolonged metaphor. Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" and Spenser's "Fa["e]rie Queene" are celebrated examples of the allegory.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Parable

Car"bine\, n. [F. carbine, OF. calabrin carabineer (cf. Ot. calabrina a policeman), fr. OF & Pr. calabre, OF. cable, chable, an engine of war used in besieging, fr. LL. chadabula, cabulus, a kind of projectile machine, fr. Gr. ? a throwing down, fr. ? to throw; ? down + ? to throw. Cf. Parable.] (Mil.) A short, light musket or rifle, esp. one used by mounted soldiers or cavalry.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Parable

Em"blem\, n. [F. embl[`e]me, L. emblema, -atis, that which is put in or on, inlaid work, fr. Gr. ? a thing put in or on, fr. ? to throw, lay, put in; ? in + ? to throw. See In, and Parable.]

1. Inlay; inlaid or mosaic work; something ornamental inserted in a surface. [Obs.] --Milton.

2. A visible sign of an idea; an object, or the figure of an object, symbolizing and suggesting another object, or an idea, by natural aptness or by association; a figurative representation; a typical designation; a symbol; as, a balance is an emblem of justice; a scepter, the emblem of sovereignty or power; a circle, the emblem of eternity. "His cicatrice, an emblem of war, here on his sinister cheek." --Shak.

3. A picture accompanied with a motto, a set of verse, or the like, intended as a moral lesson or meditation.

Note: Writers and artists of the 17th century gave much attention and study to the composition of such emblems, and many collections of them were published.

Syn: Sign; symbol; type; device; signal; token.

Usage: Sign, Emblem, Symbol, Type. Sign is the generic word comprehending all significant representations. An emblem is a visible object representing another by a natural suggestion of characteristic qualities, or an habitual and recognized association; as, a circle, having no apparent beginning or end, is an emblem of eternity; a particular flag is the emblem of the country or ship which has adopted it for a sign and with which it is habitually associated. Between emblem and symbol the distinction is slight, and often one may be substituted for the other without impropriety. See Symbol. Thus, a circle is either an emblem or a symbol of eternity; a scepter, either an emblem or a symbol of authority; a lamb, either an emblem or a symbol of meekness. "An emblem is always of something simple; a symbol may be of something complex, as of a transaction . . . In consequence we do not speak of actions emblematic." --C. J. Smith. A type is a representative example, or model, exhibiting the qualities common to all individuals of the class to which it belongs; as, the Monitor is a type of a class of war vessels.

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