Words / B2

FAYBL/ˈfeɪbl/

A fable is a short story, often with animals, that teaches a moral: Aesop’s fables; a moral fable. It is also a story that is not true: a mere fable. A parable is a moral tale, often religious; a myth is a traditional origin story; fiction is broader. Name the fable in the literature paper, then the moral. Mix-up: fable vs table; fabulous; do not write fable for a named historical source treated as fact in the extract.

Meaning

A short story, often with animals, that teaches a moral; also a story that is not true.

Examples

• “Name the fable in the literature paper, then the moral; a fable in a news source is an untrue tale.”
• “Name the fable in the literature paper, then the moral, not a cartoon caption.”
• “A fable in a news source is an untrue tale, which is the false-story sense — still quote the correction if given.”

Good to know

a moral fable; Aesop’s fables; a mere fable (untrue). Close: parable / allegory. Contrast: a factual chronicle. Trap: table / fabulous. Literature and media. A moral tale, or an untrue story — name the moral or the correction.

Near in meaning

parable, allegory, tale

New