tale


Definition: Meaning of, tale in English to English dictionary.

Pronunciation: / teɪl /

  • noun
  • synonym
  • antonym
Word Forms:
Singular Plural
tale tales
[countable]
  1. a story about exciting imaginary events
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  2. a description of interesting or exciting things that happened to someone, often one which is not completely true about every detail
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  3. tell tales British English to tell someone in authority about something wrong that someone else has done [=  tattle American English]
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  4. tale of woe a description of events that made you unhappy
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  5. tale of woe a series of bad things that happened to someone
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synonym
antonym

tale used in phrases

  • Tale of Two Cities, A
    1. (1859) a novel by Charles DICKENS, set in London and Paris at the time of the FRENCH REVOLUTION . The start of the book is very well known: 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...'. Another famous part is the thoughts of one of the main characters, Sydney Carton, when he is about to be killed by the GUILLOTINE instead of another man that he is pretending to be, so that the other man can live: 'It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done'.
  • Tale of a Tub, A
    1. a SATIRE by Jonathan SWIFT about religious extremism. It tells of three brothers, Peter, who represents the ROMAN CATHOLIC church; Jack, who represents the extreme PROTESTANT s, and Martin, who represents the ANGLICAN church.
  • fairy tale (noun)
    1. a children's story in which magical things happen
    2. a story that someone has invented and is difficult to believe
  • heroic tale (noun)
    1. a story of an adventure
  • old wives' tale (noun)
    1. a bit of lore passed on by word of mouth
  • tall tale (noun)
    1. unusual, incredible or fanciful an improbable story
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