as in allegory
a story intended to teach a basic truth or moral about life
the parable in which the repentant sinner is compared to the returning prodigal son who is welcomed home
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of parable
The story is often described as a parable of freedom versus control.
—
Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 5 July 2025
Bathed in a pink-pop glow, its pastiche of romance and horror collide in a viciously mischievous parable of technology and control that speaks to these most anxious times.
—Ew Staff Published, EW.com, 30 June 2025
It’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story.
—Jann E. Freed, Forbes.com, 18 June 2025
The series of parables and contained narratives are also dotted with evidence of time travel.
—Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 13 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for parable
Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 5 July 2025
Bathed in a pink-pop glow, its pastiche of romance and horror collide in a viciously mischievous parable of technology and control that speaks to these most anxious times.
—Ew Staff Published, EW.com, 30 June 2025
It’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story.
—Jann E. Freed, Forbes.com, 18 June 2025
The series of parables and contained narratives are also dotted with evidence of time travel.
—Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 13 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for parable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for parable
Noun
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Over the past 20 years of Black List darlings and Edgar Wright rip-offs, the American film industry has established a new archetype of cinema filled with quippy antiheroes, gory allegories for domestic strife, and character actors rattling off reference humor.—
Sam Bodrojan,
IndieWire,
11 Sep. 2025
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Her 2020 duo of albums, Folklore and Evermore, channeled the sound and sensibility of indie rock, refracting her perennial personal themes through a dark, blurry lens of fantasy and allegory.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
4 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Lawrence is sparing in his style, the image desaturated like a vintage photograph, locating this fable in an unspecified future and past.—
Katie Walsh,
Boston Herald,
11 Sep. 2025
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The Last Viking, the latest collaboration between Danish writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen and his longtime muses Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas, is a wild, darkly comic fable about brotherhood, identity and the limits of sanity.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
8 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Arias weaves a lovely tale of unrequited love that isn’t as unrequited in this sapphic, slow-burn romance that also touches on weighty topics, including divorce and grief.—
Mia Sosa,
PEOPLE,
15 Sep. 2025
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The tell-tale signs continued to add up.—
Maria Morava,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Parable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/parable. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
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