tale
tale (tāl)
noun
- something told or related; relation or recital of happenings
- a story or account of true, legendary, or fictitious events; narrative
- a literary composition in narrative form
- a piece of gossip
- a falsehood; lie
- Archaic a tally; count
- Obsolete the act of telling
Etymology: ME < OE talu, speech, number, akin to Ger zahl, number, Du taal, speech < IE base *del-, to aim, reckon, trick > Gr dolos, L dolus, guile, artifice
tale
n.
A story
anecdote, fairy tale, folk tale; see story.A lie
tall tale, fiction, exaggeration; see lie 1. See syn. study at story.
Preposition: of
- intrigue: As they work to untangle the threads of both murders they make powerful enemies in a dramatic tale of court intrigue and revenge.
- bravery: However, his works were not limited to these tales of bravery, intrigue and revenge.
- derring-do: Get ready for an extraordinary tale of doggy derring-do!
Possessives
- traveler: Holidays in Hell is package tour of traveler's tales from places as appealing as the inner circles of Dante's inferno.
Converse of object
- tell: In telling a tale against the Miller, is he actually telling a tale against himself?
- recount: No doubt people will recount the tale for as long as Coventry exists.
- harrow: The truth about Vietnam This harrowing tale is simply about the horrors of war.
- weave: These story-telling sessions weave enchanting tales of nature as the Gardens sleep through the winter.
Adjective modifier
- cautionary: The facts of this case are a cautionary tale.
- tall: Nothing wrong with a few tall tales, I say.
- tragic: Read the tragic tale of Jean McConville here, executed on the command of Gerry Adams, the psychotic Sinn Fein IRA godfather.
- classic: Classic tale of a boy who dreams himself to an island of friendly monsters.
- gripping: Tony Thompson has cleverly blended their individual accounts into a gripping tale.
- sad: Now let me tell you a sad little tale about a Cornish fisherman.
Noun used with modifier
- fairy: Many of the fairy tales we grew up with are examples.
- folk: What about using folk tales to talk about globalization?
- epic: Troy is a movie written by David Benioff, and loosely based on Homer's epic tale.
- morality: The account has a nice ring to it, and can be offered as a good morality tale in which good triumphs over evil.
- coming-of-age: This sophisticated coming-of-age tale takes us on a journey, through the politics of Mexico, class, friendship, love and sex.
A touch of science, even bogus science, gives an edgeto the superstitious tale.
Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. Theserough notes andourdead bodiesmusttell thetale.
History is a tale of efforts that failedaspirations that weren't realized, or wishes that were fulfilled and then turned out to be different from what one expected.
Nobody has any conscience about adding to the improbabilities of a marvelous tale.
A mere tale of a tub, my words are idle.
Some kind of moral discovery should be the object of every tale.
And is it true? And is it true, This most tremendous tale of all, Seen in a stained-glass window's hue, A Baby in an ox's stall? The Maker of the stars and sea Become a Child on earth for me?
Notale everhappened intheway wetell it.Butthemoral is always correct.
Ningue¤ m no cais tem um nome so¤ .Todos te" m tambe¤ m um apelido ou abreviam o nome, ou o aumentam, ou lhe acrescentam qualquer coisa que recorde uma histo¤ ria, uma luta, um amor. No one onthe dockshasjust onename.Everybody has a nickname too, or the name is shortened, or lengthened, or something is added that recalls a tale, a fight, a woman.
But there's a tree, of many, one, A single field which I have looked upon, Both of them speak of something that isgone: The pansyat my feet Doth the same tale repeat: Whither is fled the visionary gleam? Where is it now, the glory and the dream?
Never mind my grace, lassie; just speak out a plain tale, and show you have a Scotch tongue in your head.
Arma virumque cano,Troiae qui primus ab oris Italiam fato profugus Laviniaque venit Litora. Thisis a tale of arms and of a man.Fated to be an exile, he wasthe first tosail fromtheland of Troyand reach Italy, at its Lavinian shore.
A tale should be judicious, clear, succinct; The language plain, and incidents well linked; Tell not as new what ev'ry body knows, And new or old, still hasten to a close.
I tell the tale that I heard told. Mithridates, he died old.
The maid (and thereby hangs a tale) For such a maid no Whitson-ale Could ever yet produce: No grape that's kindly ripe, could be So round, so plump, so soft as she, Nor half so full of juice.
Never trust the artist. Trust the tale.
With a tale forsooth he cometh unto you, with a tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney corner.
Browse dictionary entries near tale
- talcum (powder)
- talcum
- talcose
- Talcahuano
- Talca
- talc
- talaria
- tala
- taking the Fifth
- taking
- talebearer
- talent
- talent scout
- talented
- taler
- tales
- talesman
- taleteller
- tali
- Taliban
