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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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 allegory
Coogler's Jim Crow-era film -- the rare horror movie to win the academy's favor -- conjures a mythical allegory of Black life.
—
Jake Coyle The Associated Press, Arkansas Online, 23 Jan. 2026
Coogler’s Jim Crow-era film — the rare horror movie to win the academy’s favor — conjures a mythical allegory of Black life.
—Jake Coyle, Chicago Tribune, 22 Jan. 2026
Via a sly, clever and potent allegory, the English singer-songwriter, who is trans, depicts the world of a vibrant but vilified cryptid community that finally rises up in the face of prejudice — not to attack, but simply to exist.
—Joe Lynch, Billboard, 16 Jan. 2026
The team’s hypothesis gets its name from a 2,400-year-old allegory by the Greek philosopher Plato.
—Ben Brubaker, Quanta Magazine, 7 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for allegory
Jake Coyle The Associated Press, Arkansas Online, 23 Jan. 2026
Coogler’s Jim Crow-era film — the rare horror movie to win the academy’s favor — conjures a mythical allegory of Black life.
—Jake Coyle, Chicago Tribune, 22 Jan. 2026
Via a sly, clever and potent allegory, the English singer-songwriter, who is trans, depicts the world of a vibrant but vilified cryptid community that finally rises up in the face of prejudice — not to attack, but simply to exist.
—Joe Lynch, Billboard, 16 Jan. 2026
The team’s hypothesis gets its name from a 2,400-year-old allegory by the Greek philosopher Plato.
—Ben Brubaker, Quanta Magazine, 7 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for allegory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for allegory
Noun
-
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
-
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
-
Jesse Andrews was one of the writers on Pixar’s whimsical Italian Riviera fable Luca, a gentle charmer that became a 2021 pandemic casualty, bypassing theaters to go straight to Disney+.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Mar. 2026
-
Author Laurel Snyder and illustrator LeUyen Pham are a kidlit dream team, and their warm and wise picture book fable will easily find its way into young readers’ hearts.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
2 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
This spiritual sequel to ‘Frankenstein’ is a romantic tale of obsession, possession and fantasy — adjectives that also apply to its filmmaker, Maggie Gyllenhaal, who expends massive quantities of energy jolting it to life.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Mar. 2026
-
The romantic tale, of one kind of choice, is nested in a dramatic frame, of another choice, that’s at once local and international.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
6 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Allegory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/allegory. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
