as in parable
a story intended to teach a basic truth or moral about life
Dr. Seuss's story "The Sneetches" is a telling allegory about tolerance for people's differences
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Recent Examples of allegory
These are tales of misplacement and metamorphosis — humans as beasts, beasts as allegories.
—
Jan Steyn, The Dial, 10 Mar. 2026
The horror film serves as a gory allegory for the evils that persisted in the South in the Jim Crow era in the late 19th century and onward.
—Yi-Jin Yu, ABC News, 2 Mar. 2026
If Çatak uses the accumulation of mundane details to portray the pressures on ordinary people, Alper uses the heightened language of myth and allegory to tell a story that nevertheless feels immediately recognizable as belonging to the present.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026
An allegory for how De Sosa’s generation is leaving the world, the director says.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 13 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for allegory
Jan Steyn, The Dial, 10 Mar. 2026
The horror film serves as a gory allegory for the evils that persisted in the South in the Jim Crow era in the late 19th century and onward.
—Yi-Jin Yu, ABC News, 2 Mar. 2026
If Çatak uses the accumulation of mundane details to portray the pressures on ordinary people, Alper uses the heightened language of myth and allegory to tell a story that nevertheless feels immediately recognizable as belonging to the present.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026
An allegory for how De Sosa’s generation is leaving the world, the director says.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 13 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for allegory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for allegory
Noun
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Coogan was poking fun at tech companies’ impulse to name themselves after myths and parables, even when those myths and cultural artifacts have negative associations.—
Diego Lasarte,
New Yorker,
25 Feb. 2026
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Plato’s prescient understanding of ICE agents arose during a discussion of the parable of the Ring of Gyges.—
Paul Rosenzweig,
Washington Post,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Described as a political fable that combines elements of a crime thriller with epic tragedy, the plot of Minotaur sees a Russian corporate executives preparing to carry out mass layoffs, who discovers his wife is having an affair.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
18 Mar. 2026
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Bellingcat gets its name from an Aesop’s fable, in which a group of mice decide the best way to save themselves from their nemesis the cat is to put a bell around its neck that would alert them to its presence.—
Nick Tabor,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
13 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Ammonia damaged the paper preserving ancient chronicles (letopisi) of tales that served the needs of princes and priests at the expense of those beneath them or at their throats.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Apr. 2026
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The 20-track LP serves as equal parts music and cinema in which Crockett weaves a tale of McLane as a cattle rustler on the run from the law who — eventually — gets his redemption.—
Josh Crutchmer,
Rolling Stone,
3 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Allegory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/allegory. Accessed 8 Apr. 2026.
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