Synonyms of tale

tale

noun

ˈtāl 

1

as in story

a rumor or report of a personal or sensational nature

don't believe the tales you hear about our neighbor's kid

Synonyms & Similar Words

• story
• whisper
• canard
• fable
• gossip
• talk
• lie
• tattle
• libel
• slander
• defamation
• hearsay
• dirt
• dirty laundry
• scuttlebutt
• fairy tale
• talebearing
• fabrication
• fib
• prevarication
• dirty linen
• falsehood
• untruth
• mendacity
• falsity
• whopper

2

as in anecdote

a brief account of something interesting that happened especially to one personally

asked Dad to tell once again the tale of how, as a kid, he broke his arm jumping out of a tree

Synonyms & Similar Words

• story
• anecdote
• yarn
• incident
• occurrence
• episode
• event
• happening
• recitation
• recital

3

as in lie

a statement known by its maker to be untrue and made in order to deceive

told tall tales in an attempt to impress me with her supposedly upper-crust background

Synonyms & Similar Words

• story
• lie
• fable
• fairy tale
• fabrication
• mendacity
• untruth
• falsehood
• fib
• prevarication
• fiction
• whopper
• falsity
• ambiguity
• exaggeration
• distortion
• taradiddle
• myth
• defamation
• libel
• nonsense
• slander
• obliquity
• fraudulence
• deceit
• half-truth
• perjury
• pose
• equivocation
• bluff
• misrepresentation
• misconception
• duplicity
• canard
• fallacy
• misinformation
• misstatement
• falsification
• pretense
• humbug
• dishonesty
• jive
• deceitfulness
• misreport

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• truth
• fact
• honesty
• truism
• truthfulness
• veracity
• confirmation
• verification
• validation
• verity
• authentication
• substantiation

4

as in novella

a work with imaginary characters and events that is shorter and usually less complex than a novel

the oft-told tale of Sleeping Beauty

Synonyms & Similar Words

• story
• novella
• narrative
• yarn
• history
• fable
• short story
• joke
• myth
• anecdote
• novelette
• legend
• romance
• parable
• annals
• record
• chronicle
• report
• fairy tale
• folktale
• exemplum
• bedtime story
• account

5

as in count

a total number obtained or recorded by noting each thing as it was being added

when the tale of the dead from the disaster is announced, the city will be in shock

Synonyms & Similar Words

• count
• tally
• score
• census
• amount
• whole
• total
• recount
• sum
• gross

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of tale

Schwartz, a writer and folklorist, gathered spooky tales from all over the United States and compiled them into three of the most popular children’s books of the 1980s. — Liz Rosenberg, The Conversation, 23 Oct. 2026

The tale of the tape on the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays is very similar. — Kevin Dotson, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2026

If Crystal and Ellis had stayed on that tack — tales about the house at 860 bound together by a sense of its loss — 860 might have the sturdiness of a tearjerker. — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 22 Oct. 2026

What makes his tale unique is that it is so carefully reported with nuance, colorful and vivid descriptions, and even humor. — Terry Hartle, Christian Science Monitor, 22 Oct. 2026

Phrases Containing tale

• fairy tale
• old wives' tale