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
• distortion
• exaggeration
• taradiddle
• myth
• defamation
• fraudulence
• nonsense
• libel
• deceit
• slander
• obliquity
• 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

The writers of these biblical tales weren’t plagiarizing Homer, MacDonald says. — John Blake, CNN Money, 2 Aug. 2026

Nolan sets the tone by opening with a bard (Travis Scott) beginning to tell the tale of the fall of Troy—at least the idealized heroic version that the bard’s audiences are hungry to hear. — ArsTechnica, 1 Aug. 2026

But the illicit art is only part of the operatic tale of the literal rise and metaphorical fall of what have become informally known as the graffiti towers. — Los Angeles Times, 31 July 2026

Fouling up the comics' tragically iconic tale involving Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and one really nasty fall. — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 31 July 2026

Phrases Containing tale

• fairy tale
• old wives' tale