stories

Definition of storiesnext
plural of story
1
as in tales
a work with imaginary characters and events that is shorter and usually less complex than a novel he's a talented writer, but his quirky stories will never find a wide readership

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2
as in anecdotes
a brief account of something interesting that happened especially to one personally Grandpa is always telling stories about what it was like growing up on a farm

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3
4
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6
as in plots
the unfolding of events in a dramatic or literary work the story proceeds at a pace that many readers will find a bit too leisurely

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7
as in situations
position with regard to conditions and circumstances management is trying to figure out what the story is with the accident down in the warehouse

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of stories Upstairs is meticulously staged as an Airbnb retreat that comes with modern amenities, Old West charm and quaint stories about ghosts. David Caraccio, Sacbee.com, 28 Feb. 2026 But beneath the surface, Life Time Group Holdings and Planet Fitness told very different stories about the American consumer. Brandon Gomez, CNBC, 28 Feb. 2026 Locals in Tahoe told me stories of small heli operations running around the region as early as the sixties and seventies, but documentation of these businesses from the pre-Internet era proved difficult to find. Brent Rose, Outside, 28 Feb. 2026 In the book Narrative Economics, Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller shows how viral stories, or narratives, spread and drive economic events like booms and busts. Justin Worland, Time, 28 Feb. 2026 To this day when Shannon’s name is brought up, everybody in the conversation will get the biggest smiles while telling stories. New York Daily News, 28 Feb. 2026 Johnson, who’s watched the neighborhood evolve since his childhood, works to keep these stories alive while constantly moving the town forward. Symiah Dorsey, Southern Living, 28 Feb. 2026 These stories remind us that climate change is not distant, it is lived, shared, and deeply human. Leo Barraclough, Variety, 28 Feb. 2026 The new flag was four stories long. Anand Gopal, New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stories
Noun
  • Wrexham’s Hollywood script Ridiculous rise, incredible achievements, two very likeable owners and a working-class town and club reborn by one of modern football’s most famous rags-to-riches tales.
    Tim Spiers, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Different mythological tales point to the reason behind this observance.
    ABC News, ABC News, 3 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • There have also been a number of studies examining impacts on addiction in real-world use of the drugs prescribed for other diseases, as well as countless anecdotes of people’s personal experiences.
    Meg Tirrell, CNN Money, 4 Mar. 2026
  • Stamper has broadened my mind with a book full of fascinating tidbits and anecdotes, and a delightful quantity of humor.
    The Know, Denver Post, 1 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • Plaintiff attorneys have built similar tools capable of producing polished demand letters, medical chronologies, and settlement ranges using massive legal datasets.
    Connie Etemadi, USA Today, 27 Jan. 2026
  • This requires a set of skills to interrogate the past by probing deeply, constructing and reconstructing chronologies, and contemplating counterfactuals in which different decisions might have significantly altered subsequent events.
    John T. Shaw, Twin Cities, 5 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • For the past six months, whispers of a federal investigation echoed inside and around City Hall, the 29-story skyscraper in downtown Kansas City.
    Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 3 Mar. 2026
  • Once again, there were no cellphones, and the halls were filled with whispers, out of consideration for those teens who were performing in the classrooms.
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 1 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • This is the high-stakes intrigue of alliances, diplomacy, secrets, backstabbing, love, lies and drama that keep the world running and sometimes threaten to stop it.
    Ut Community Press, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Mar. 2026
  • Henneke added that the responsibility to ensure children in the juvenile justice system are served lies squarely with the Tarrant County Juvenile Board.
    Kamal Morgan, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 1 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • Israeli leaders may be well protected from Iranian nationalist plots.
    Robert A. Pape In The Los Angeles Times, Arkansas Online, 3 Mar. 2026
  • The bulletin warned that terror plots weren’t the only concern.
    Josh Meyer, USA Today, 1 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • With multimodal input from different sensing techniques, such as vision, touch, and joint position awareness, the robot is less likely to misinterpret complex situations.
    Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 3 Mar. 2026
  • Another possibility at pivot would be Ranger Vincent Trocheck, who could help on the penalty kill and in lead-protection situations.
    Stephen Conroy, Hartford Courant, 2 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • The plan, as outlined by Orsi in that February 2025 Deadline interview, is to adapt all three of the novellas in the Dunk and Egg collection across three total seasons.
    Hanna Wickes, Miami Herald, 24 Feb. 2026
  • These are novellas that have existed for 30 years.
    Tracy Brown, Los Angeles Times, 23 Feb. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Stories.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stories. Accessed 8 Mar. 2026.

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