fable

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a deliberately false or improbable account
  2. noun a short moral story (often with animal characters)
  3. noun a story about mythical or supernatural beings or events

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

fabrication, fiction

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