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
From debates about the Last Son of Krypton’s immigration status to assertions that director James Gunn intended a Superman subplot to be an allegory of Israel’s war in Gaza, social media is abuzz about Superman, played by David Corenswet in the new movie.
—
Vasilis K. Pozios, HollywoodReporter, 18 July 2025
As an immigrant allegory himself, xenophobia feels incredibly strange on Superman.
—Kambole Campbell, Vulture, 10 July 2025
Superman's foil comes in Hoult's Lex Luthor, a man proudly consumed by envy, who, as Lois deduces, wants to be king (who said comic book allegory needed to be subtle?).
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 8 July 2025
The ending serves as a handy reminder that the zombie movie, more than perhaps any other strain of horror cinema, can be a potent conductor of allegory, metaphor, and polemic.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 25 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for allegory
Vasilis K. Pozios, HollywoodReporter, 18 July 2025
As an immigrant allegory himself, xenophobia feels incredibly strange on Superman.
—Kambole Campbell, Vulture, 10 July 2025
Superman's foil comes in Hoult's Lex Luthor, a man proudly consumed by envy, who, as Lois deduces, wants to be king (who said comic book allegory needed to be subtle?).
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 8 July 2025
The ending serves as a handy reminder that the zombie movie, more than perhaps any other strain of horror cinema, can be a potent conductor of allegory, metaphor, and polemic.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 25 June 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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Allusions to myths, fables, and riffs on common idioms abound, many of them evocative and quite funny.—
Lora Kelley,
New Yorker,
7 Aug. 2025
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As three people with remote connections to a house try to solve two brutal murders, the story becomes increasingly complicated and implausible, evolving into a fable about a cursed family.—
Pat Tompkins,
AFAR Media,
18 June 2025
Noun
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With all due respect to the pressures of making an unconventional sci-fi film on a tight budget, using ecologically destructive technology for a story of ecological devastation, in which clean water is an increasingly rare resource, adds an unintentionally grim layer of irony to the tale.—
Josh Slater-Williams,
IndieWire,
11 Aug. 2025
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The two met in secret, and some versions of the story suggest their love lives on only in death, much like the Western tale of Romeo and Juliet.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
11 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Allegory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/allegory. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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