Synonyms of tales

tales

noun

plural of tale

1

as in stories

a rumor or report of a personal or sensational nature

don't believe the tales you hear about our neighbor's kid

Synonyms & Similar Words

• stories
• whispers
• canards
• gossip
• talks
• fables
• lies
• scuttlebutt
• libels
• slanders
• tattles
• hearsay
• defamations
• dirty laundry
• dirt
• fibs
• falsehoods
• fairy tales
• prevarications
• talebearings
• fabrications
• untruths
• mendacities
• whoppers
• falsities

2

as in anecdotes

a brief account of something interesting that happened especially to one personally

asked Dad to tell once again the tale of how, as a kid, he broke his arm jumping out of a tree

Synonyms & Similar Words

• stories
• anecdotes
• yarns
• incidents
• episodes
• occurrences
• events
• happenings
• recitations
• recitals

3

as in lies

a statement known by its maker to be untrue and made in order to deceive

told tall tales in an attempt to impress me with her supposedly upper-crust background

Synonyms & Similar Words

• stories
• lies
• fables
• fibs
• fairy tales
• falsehoods
• prevarications
• fabrications
• untruths
• whoppers
• falsities
• ambiguities
• mendacities
• fictions
• distortions
• exaggerations
• half-truths
• taradiddles
• myths
• libels
• defamations
• slanders
• deceits
• equivocations
• nonsense
• obliquities
• perjuries
• bluffs
• misconceptions
• fraudulences
• fallacies
• pretenses
• poses
• misinformation
• misrepresentations
• misstatements
• duplicities
• falsifications
• canards
• dishonesties
• humbug
• jives
• misreports

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• truths
• facts
• verities
• truisms
• confirmations
• substantiations
• verifications
• validations
• honesties
• authentications
• veracities

4

as in novellas

a work with imaginary characters and events that is shorter and usually less complex than a novel

the oft-told tale of Sleeping Beauty

Synonyms & Similar Words

• stories
• novellas
• narratives
• yarns
• short stories
• histories
• fables
• anecdotes
• jokes
• myths
• novelettes
• legends
• romances
• parables
• records
• annals
• reports
• folktales
• fairy tales
• chronicles
• exempla
• bedtime stories
• accounts

5

as in counts

a total number obtained or recorded by noting each thing as it was being added

when the tale of the dead from the disaster is announced, the city will be in shock

Synonyms & Similar Words

• counts
• scores
• tallies
• censuses
• amounts
• recounts
• totals
• sums
• wholes
• grosses

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of tales

Seth Rogen and his wife Lauren Miller swap funny tales with Sarah Silverman. —Stephanie Sengwe, PEOPLE, 12 Jan. 2026

This week’s challenge tests your memory of 21st-century books that were inspired by ancient myths, legends and folk tales. —New York Times, 12 Jan. 2026

There are many examples of cautionary takeover tales, such as the collapse of RKO, one of the most successful, creative mega-studios, after its 1948 purchase by eccentric aviation industrialist Howard Hughes, followed by its flip to General Tire ownership in 1955. —Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 12 Jan. 2026

Fleshing out the hauntingly pretty skeleton of an old palmento (a wine press carved into black lava stone basins with old millstones), Zash Boutique Hotel & Spa’s restaurant sits under a grand peachy house, all blistered by the sun and brimming with tales from its noble past. —Rosalyn Wikeley, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Jan. 2026

Lurid tales of real-life murders were a staple of pulp magazines. —Patrick Radden Keefe, New Yorker, 11 Jan. 2026

Cautionary tales and data aren’t enough without personal experience to change behavior, but Wayne State's Seeger suggests establishing social norms in the vehicle. —Jackie Charniga, USA Today, 10 Jan. 2026

Immigration tales tend to adopt a hybrid form—part elegy for life in the home country, part hymn to the promise of the new. —Tope Folarin, The Atlantic, 8 Nov. 2025

More recently his stories are pure fantasy tales. —R. Eric Thomas, Denver Post, 7 Nov. 2025