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
The filmmaker spoke in the past about how the final section of the movie is an allegory for his own personal and familial struggles with alcoholism.
—
EW.com, 15 Aug. 2025
In this place, the gyre is no longer allegory.
—Alaa Alqaisi
august 13, Literary Hub, 13 Aug. 2025
The film almost insists on being interpreted as a Brexit allegory.
—Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2025
Readers have defined it not just by the framework of a detective story but also as an allegory, fable, and ghost story.
—Kevin Dickinson, Big Think, 8 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for allegory
EW.com, 15 Aug. 2025
In this place, the gyre is no longer allegory.
—Alaa Alqaisi
august 13, Literary Hub, 13 Aug. 2025
The film almost insists on being interpreted as a Brexit allegory.
—Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2025
Readers have defined it not just by the framework of a detective story but also as an allegory, fable, and ghost story.
—Kevin Dickinson, Big Think, 8 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for allegory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for allegory
Noun
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The playwrights intended the drama as an allegorical parable for the age shaped by Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy.—
Time,
Time,
10 July 2025
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The story is often described as a parable of freedom versus control.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
5 July 2025
Noun
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Swift’s dismay about a powerful ex became a fable for any girl courted by an older guy.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
4 Sep. 2025
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This fable includes abuse and hatred, darkness, magic, love.—
The Know,
Denver Post,
31 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The tale is pilfered from the Aeneid, but Virgil would blench to see the curtain rise on Jupiter, dandling Ganymede, a beautiful boy, upon his knee.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2025
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Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel Hamnet imagined the relationship between the Bard and his spouse as an intimate tale of lust, compromise, joy, resentment, support, and sorrow.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Allegory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/allegory. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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