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
• tarradiddle
• distortion
• taradiddle
• exaggeration
• ambiguity
• myth
• fraudulence
• defamation
• libel
• nonsense
• slander
• deceit
• obliquity
• half-truth
• pretence
• 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

Examples of tale in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Watch on Deadline The Night Watch is billed as a tale of magic, friendship and mysteries buried beneath the city of Amsterdam. —Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 18 Oct. 2024

Clearly, where Miu Miu is concerned, there are still plenty more tales to be told. —Liam Hess, Vogue, 18 Oct. 2024

Freaky films are meant to be shared, in the dark, like campfire tales. —The New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2024

So declared the unnerving trailer for giallo master Dario Argento's gorgeously atmospheric tale of spooky goings-on at a German dance school. —Clark Collis, EW.com, 18 Oct. 2024

Phrases Containing tale

• fairy tale
• old wives' tale