parable

noun par·a·ble \ ˈper-ə-bəl , ˈpa-rə- \

|Updated on: 7 Aug 2018

Definition of parable

: a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle

the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan

; also : something (such as a news story or a series of real events) likened to a parable in providing an instructive example or lesson

In some ways, his life is a parable of the corrupting effect of great wealth, for he always assumed that everyone was after his money and out to cheat him.
—Gavin Stamp

By the summer of 2014, 380 House members and 74 senators had signed on as sponsors …. The ABLE Act had become a force. Yet in a parable of how Washington works, the bill still had a long way to go.
—Gail Russell Chaddock

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Examples of parable in a Sentence

He told the children a parable about the importance of forgiveness.
the parable of the Good Samaritan

Recent Examples of parable from the Web

There are all kinds of parables about nature fighting back against evil, but nothing has ever been so explicit as House Speaker Paul Ryan’s recent saga with woodchucks (alias groundhog).

— caitlin wolper, Teen Vogue, "House Speaker Paul Ryan Says Woodchucks Destroyed His Car," 13 July 2018
With a narrative form that has something of the beauty and rippling reach of epic poetry, Massini uses his family saga to craft a parable of what, arguably, has been the final nail in the coffin of the American Dream.

— demetrios matheou, The Hollywood Reporter, "'The Lehman Trilogy': Theater Review," 13 July 2018
The parable of Mr Tsipras’s eventual capitulation—his radical government brought to heel by capital markets and an intransigent European Union—is seeping into the left’s consciousness.

— The Economist, "Why Labour is obsessed with Greek politics," 28 June 2018
Mdou Moctar’s albums bring to mind the parable of the blind men and the elephant; taken individually, each one gives a misleading impression of the Nigerien artist’s full measure.

— bill meyer, Chicago Reader, "The stylistic range of Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar runs as deep as the communal roots of his music," 25 May 2018
But here is an earnest one: the greatest line reading in the history of cinema comes at the hour-and-18-minute mark of Cop Land, James Mangold’s 1997 parable of police corruption and mafia power just west of the George Washington Bridge.

— jess bergman, The Cut, "I Think About This a Lot: Robert De Niro Yelling ‘You Blew It!’ in Cop Land," 30 Apr. 2018
The parable of the innocent candidate, who is hired as a patsy in the political ruckus and turns out, annoyingly, to possess a conscience, is a cinematic staple.

— rachel aviv, The New Yorker, "“This Is Our Land” and “Le Corbeau”," 5 July 2010
First, the life and death of Jessica Ney is a parable of the perils of opioid recovery.

— aubrey nagle, Philly.com, "Opioid deaths reveal precarious recoveries, more school money in Pa. budget | Morning Newsletter," 25 June 2018
If Turkey is a parable of easy money, its lessons cannot readily—or can no longer— be generally applied to emerging markets.

— The Economist, "How Turkey fell from investment darling to junk-rated emerging market," 19 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'parable.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Parable comes to us via Anglo-French from the Late Latin word parabola, which in turn comes from Greek parabolē, meaning "comparison." The word parabola may look familiar if you remember your geometry. The mathematical "parabola" refers to a kind of comparison between a fixed point and a straight line, resulting in a parabolic curve; it came to English from New Latin (Latin as used since the end of the medieval period, especially in scientific description and classification). "Parable," however, descends from Late Latin (the Latin language used by writers in the 3rd to 6th centuries). The Late Latin term parabola referred to verbal comparisons: it essentially meant "allegory" or "speech." Other English descendants of Late Latin parabola are "parole" and "palaver."

Origin and Etymology of parable

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin parabola, from Greek parabolē comparison, from paraballein to compare, from para- + ballein to throw — more at devil

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined above

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