fable
gb/fˈeɪbəl/ us/fˈeɪbəl/
B1
Αγγλικά
~ 8300
Σημασίες
0 σημασίες
Ουσιαστικό
B1
entity
1
Short moral story, often with animals
A short made-up story that teaches a lesson, often using animals that can talk and think like people.
Μοτίβο χρήσης:
a fable about [something]
Συχνό λάθος:
Learners often confuse "fable" with "fairy tale" and "parable". A fable is usually short, has a clear moral, and often uses talking animals. A fairy tale often has magic and fantasy elements and is not always focused on a clear lesson. A parable is similar to a fable but is often connected to religion and usually uses human characters.
Συνώνυμα
moral tale (Highlights the teaching aspect more directly and can include stories without animals.)
|
parable (Often has a religious or spiritual context, while a fable is usually secular and uses animals.)
Αντώνυμα
true story (Describes an account based on real events, not an invented story created to teach a lesson.)
Συνδυασμοί λέξεων
Aesop's fables
|animal fable
|children's fable
|write a fable
|classic fable
|moral of the fable
Θέματα
literature
|education
|morality
|arts_entertainment
Παραδείγματα
- As a child, she loved the fable about the tortoise and the hare.
- The teacher used a simple fable to explain why honesty is important.
- In many fables, animals speak and behave like humans to show human strengths and weaknesses.
- He wrote a modern fable about technology and friendship for his literature class.
- The film feels like a dark fable warning us about greed.
Παραδείγματα για μαθητές
- We read a short fable in class today.
- This fable teaches children to be kind.
- In the fable, a small mouse helps a big lion.
- My grandfather told me a fable before bed.
- The fable has a clear lesson at the end.
Ουσιαστικό
literary
B2
entity
2
Traditional story not based on fact
An old, famous story that many people know and repeat, but that is not really true history.
Μοτίβο χρήσης:
the fable of [something]
Συχνό λάθος:
Learners may think this sense always includes animals and an explicit moral, like the basic sense of "fable". In this literary or cultural use, a fable can be any traditional story or widely repeated narrative about a people or place, even without animal characters or a clear lesson.
Συνώνυμα
myth (Very close in meaning; "myth" is more common and can also mean a false belief, not just a traditional story.)
Αντώνυμα
historical fact (Stresses that something is supported by evidence and actually happened, unlike a fable.)
Συνδυασμοί λέξεων
ancient fable
|founding fable
|national fable
|cultural fable
|the fable of the hero
Θέματα
culture
|history
|society
|arts_entertainment
|religion
Παραδείγματα
- The book challenges the comforting fable of the nation's peaceful past.
- Over time, the general became a figure of fable, larger than life in the public imagination.
- The movie repeats the old fable of the self-made millionaire who starts with nothing.
- He argued that the story of endless economic growth is a dangerous modern fable.
- Tour guides still tell the romantic fable of how the city was founded by star-crossed lovers.
Παραδείγματα για μαθητές
- Many people believe the fable of a perfect golden age in the past.
- The leader became part of the country's fable after the war.
- Some say the island was created by gods, but that is just a fable.
- The author questions the fable of the brave, lonely hero.
- Tourists hear a nice fable about how the bridge was built.
Ουσιαστικό
literary
C1
entity
3
Invented story, a lie
A made-up story that is not true but is told as if it were true.
Μοτίβο χρήσης:
a mere fable
Συχνό λάθος:
Learners may assume this sense still includes a moral or animal characters. Here, "fable" is used to criticize a story as false or too perfect to be real, often in news, essays, or formal speech.
Συνώνυμα
fabrication (A formal word that focuses on the deliberate act of creating a false story.)
Αντώνυμα
truth (Represents what is real and factual, the opposite of an invented story.)
Συνδυασμοί λέξεων
mere fable
|pure fable
|a convenient fable
|popular fable
|polite fable
Θέματα
truth
|communication
|criticism
|core_vocabulary
Παραδείγματα
- The report shows that the tidy story of a single genius inventor is largely a fable.
- He dismissed the rumor as a comforting fable people tell themselves.
- Her version of events is a polite fable that hides what really happened.
- The idea that success comes overnight is a dangerous fable.
- Historians now see that as a convenient fable created to excuse the company’s actions.
Παραδείγματα για μαθητές
- The story about him saving the company was just a fable.
- Many people still believe this, but scientists say it is a fable.
- The idea that he never made mistakes is a fable.
- They called his excuse a fable and did not trust him.
- She said the news was a fable and asked for proof.
Ουσιαστικό
technical
C1
entity
4
The literary genre of fables
A type of story in literature that is always short, not real, and made to teach a clear lesson.
Μοτίβο χρήσης:
the fable as [a genre]
Συχνό λάθος:
Learners may not realize that "fable" can mean not just one story, but also the whole type or genre of such stories, especially in academic or literary discussion.
Συνώνυμα
allegory (A related literary form where the whole story represents something else; not always short or explicitly moral like a fable.)
Αντώνυμα
realistic fiction (Fiction that aims to represent life as it is, not stylized moral teaching like a fable.)
Συνδυασμοί λέξεων
the fable as a genre
|study the fable
|classical fable
|modern fable
|the tradition of the fable
Θέματα
literature
|education
|arts_entertainment
Παραδείγματα
- In this course, we will examine the fable as a didactic genre.
- The fable occupies an important place in early children's literature.
- She argues that the modern graphic novel sometimes functions as a kind of fable.
- Critics have noted how the director borrows structures from the fable to shape the film.
- The fable evolved alongside the parable and the fairy tale in European traditions.
Παραδείγματα για μαθητές
- We studied the fable in my literature class.
- The teacher said the fable is an old kind of story genre.
- Some modern books use the form of the fable.
- He wrote his thesis on the fable and the fairy tale.
- The fable is easy to use in classes for young students.
Γραμματική
Λημματική μορφή
fable
IPA
GB/fˈeɪbəl/
US/fˈeɪbəl/
Συλλαβές και τόνος
fable (1 συλλαβή)
Stress on 1st syllable (fable)
Τύποι λέξης
Noun
- Base: fable
- Plural: fable, fables
Οικογένεια λέξεων
Forms
fables
noun
Related words
Advanced or less common
fabulist
noun
Εκφράσεις
moral of the fable
1/mˈɔɹəl əv ðə fˈeɪbəl/
fixed phrase
Main lesson of a fable
The main lesson or message that the fable wants to teach you.
Παραδείγματα
- The moral of the fable is that slow and steady effort wins in the end.
- Ask the students what they think the moral of the fable is.
- The teacher wrote the moral of the fable on the board after reading it aloud.