Text: 1 a rumor or report of a personal or sensational nature<donʼt believe the tales you hear about our neighborʼs kid>Synonymsstory, whisperRelated Wordsdirt, gossip, scuttlebutt, talebearing, talk, tattle; defamation, libel, slander; hearsay; fabrication, fairy tale, falsehood, falsity, fib, lie 2 a brief account of something interesting that happened especially to one personally<asked Dad to tell the tale of how, as a kid, he broke his arm jumping out of a tree>— see story 2 3 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 British background>— see lie 4 a work with imaginary characters and events that is shorter and usually less complex than a novel<when we asked for a bedtime story, Dad read us the tale of Sleeping Beauty>— see story 1

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