as in allegory
a story intended to teach a basic truth or moral about life
the parable in which the repentant sinner is compared to the returning prodigal son who is welcomed home
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Recent Examples of parable
What kind of message would prime Jeezy have presented without the pyrex parables in tow?
—
Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 18 Dec. 2025
The wordplay is as colorful as the sonics are sedate, tag-team player parables sailing over production seeking a slippery middle ground between East and West Coast throwback jams.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 2 Dec. 2025
The musical features a ragtag group who help Jesus tell various parables.
—Mo Rocca, CBS News, 16 Nov. 2025
This more ambitious effort, reflective of his Coptic Christian background, will stand or fall for viewers as a parable of faith versus doubt.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 12 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for parable
Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 18 Dec. 2025
The wordplay is as colorful as the sonics are sedate, tag-team player parables sailing over production seeking a slippery middle ground between East and West Coast throwback jams.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 2 Dec. 2025
The musical features a ragtag group who help Jesus tell various parables.
—Mo Rocca, CBS News, 16 Nov. 2025
This more ambitious effort, reflective of his Coptic Christian background, will stand or fall for viewers as a parable of faith versus doubt.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 12 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for parable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for parable
Noun
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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
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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
Noun
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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
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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
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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
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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
“Parable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/parable. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.
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