Noun: fable
| Singular | fable |
| Plural | fables |
Sample Sentences
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But refuſe prophane and olde wiues fables, and exerciſe thy ſelfe rather vnto godlineſſe. [1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 4:7, column 1:]
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[…]we grew / The fable of the city where we dwelt. [1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Gardener’s Daughter; or, The Pictures”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 19:]
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I say it would look like a fable to report that this gentleman gives away all which is the overplus of a great fortune by secret methods to other men. [1712 January 12 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, January 2, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 264; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 316:]
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For the moral (as Bossu observes,) is the first business of the poet, as being the groundwork of his instruction. This being formed, he contrives such a design, or fable, as may be most suitable to the moral; [1695, John Dryden, A Parallel betwixt Painting and Poetry:]
Nouns inflected like fable
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
From Middle English, borrowed from Old French fable, from Latin fābula, from fārī (“to speak, say”) + -bula (“instrumental suffix”). See ban, and compare fabulous, fame. Doublet of fabula. See: Latin Nouns '
fābula'.
Verbs referencing "fable"
Latin Nouns
apophasis, Norwegian Bokmål Nouns
fabel.