as in tales
a work with imaginary characters and events that is shorter and usually less complex than a novel
her very first short story was accepted for publication in a local journal
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Recent Examples of short stories
The killer Charles Starkweather, the short stories of Flannery O’Connor, Charles Laughton’s sole cinematic offering, The Night of the Hunter (1955), Terrance Malick’s debut film, Badlands (1973), and Springsteen’s own emotionally fraught childhood each served as inspiration and influence.
—
Richard Newby, HollywoodReporter, 29 Oct. 2025
The production has faced unique challenges in adapting Li Kotomi’s source material, which comprises seven interconnected short stories spanning different times and places.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 27 Oct. 2025
My older kids were given these nonsense short stories.
—Amy Delaura, The Washington Examiner, 23 Oct. 2025
The short stories, written in Lee’s youth, are all badly underdeveloped.
—Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2025
Lavender will work with Osborne and the team on films and series based on novels including Beautiful Animals and The Glass Kingdom, as well as short stories and original screenplays.
—Liz Shackleton, Deadline, 14 Oct. 2025
Hanks cowrote the play, based on his collection of short stories, with James Glossman.
—Kristen Tauer, Footwear News, 11 Oct. 2025
Researchers in Montreal played short stories for 39 of their subjects in French, German, and Hebrew (the rest were the control group), until the babies were born.
—Elisabeth Sherman, Parents, 8 Oct. 2025
At times the novel felt more like a collection of short stories than one cohesive narrative — until the second half of the book, when two events, one celebratory and one heartbreaking, bring the group together.
—Zoë Jackson, Boston Herald, 28 Sep. 2025
Richard Newby, HollywoodReporter, 29 Oct. 2025
The production has faced unique challenges in adapting Li Kotomi’s source material, which comprises seven interconnected short stories spanning different times and places.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 27 Oct. 2025
My older kids were given these nonsense short stories.
—Amy Delaura, The Washington Examiner, 23 Oct. 2025
The short stories, written in Lee’s youth, are all badly underdeveloped.
—Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2025
Lavender will work with Osborne and the team on films and series based on novels including Beautiful Animals and The Glass Kingdom, as well as short stories and original screenplays.
—Liz Shackleton, Deadline, 14 Oct. 2025
Hanks cowrote the play, based on his collection of short stories, with James Glossman.
—Kristen Tauer, Footwear News, 11 Oct. 2025
Researchers in Montreal played short stories for 39 of their subjects in French, German, and Hebrew (the rest were the control group), until the babies were born.
—Elisabeth Sherman, Parents, 8 Oct. 2025
At times the novel felt more like a collection of short stories than one cohesive narrative — until the second half of the book, when two events, one celebratory and one heartbreaking, bring the group together.
—Zoë Jackson, Boston Herald, 28 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for short stories
Noun
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There was a distinct set of tales dealing with demons who collected idle chatter in churches, and, over time, these stories were folded into the expanding legend of Tutivillus.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
31 Oct. 2025
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As is often the case with bifurcated tales unfolding between two distinct planes of existence, the characters in the Realm of the Spooks, also have their matching counterparts in Frankelda’s reality.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Variety,
31 Oct. 2025
Noun
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As soon as a battle or a war has been fought, victors and losers alike begin to tell different stories.—
Elizabeth D. Samet,
Foreign Affairs,
29 Oct. 2025
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The thrill of the unexplained is what prompts so many to take ghost tours, which often tell juicy and sometimes goosebump-inducing stories that give historic sites a richer context.—
Sophie Friedman,
AFAR Media,
22 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Those books, now numbering eight (plus several novellas), have been adapted as Apple TV’s Emmy-winning series Slow Horses, whose fifth season concluded Wednesday (Apple has ordered two more seasons).—
Rick Porter,
HollywoodReporter,
29 Oct. 2025
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In total, Harrison wrote 14 books for the series, as well as a series of five mini-summer novellas and a Cliquetionary, a guide to the tween characters' slang.—
Meredith Wilshere,
PEOPLE,
18 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Short stories.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/short%20stories. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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