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

But—despite the dead duck tale—staff at only seven of the 73 facilities asked questions specific to bird flu exposure. — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 2 Oct. 2026

The cautionary tale of using technology to predict box office outcomes centers on Relativity Media, which pitched data analysis in a pre-generative AI world but later went bankrupt. — John Kell, Fortune, 30 Sep. 2026

The film turns the princess tale into a passage across medieval fantasy, retro-futurist sci-fi and the present day. — Emiliano De Pablos, Variety, 30 Sep. 2026

In the tales of the Buddha’s past lives, the Jatakas, the Buddha was reborn as various animals. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Sep. 2026

Phrases Containing tale

• fairy tale
• old wives' tale