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
• mendacities
• ambiguities
• fictions
• distortions
• exaggerations
• half-truths
• taradiddles
• libels
• myths
• defamations
• slanders
• equivocations
• obliquities
• deceits
• nonsense
• perjuries
• misconceptions
• bluffs
• fallacies
• pretenses
• poses
• misinformation
• misrepresentations
• fraudulences
• 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

Fear of the wilderness and its potentially lethal native creatures is hardwired into the human brain and fueled tales of haunted forests and murderous animals throughout history. — Culture Critic, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2026

And there’s good stories, different stories in there, different tales to tell. — Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 30 Sep. 2026

In the tales of the Buddha’s past lives, the Jatakas, the Buddha was reborn as various animals. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Sep. 2026

Of all the stories and tales that Disney tells so well, perhaps none proved as fanciful, and lasted as long, as the fantasy that Bob Iger was going to retire. — Bob Chapek, HollywoodReporter, 24 Sep. 2026

Two mysterious drifters never speak; their inner monologues carry us across absurdist one-liners, weird tales, and stream-of-consciousness musings. — Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 23 Sep. 2026

Any attempt to rerun these social experiments as straight entertainment rather than cautionary tales, even while removing the chance of bodily harm, is poisoned at the root. — Alison Herman, Variety, 23 Sep. 2026

Marked by a surprisingly tall neon tower, the theatre hosts a 45-minute ghost tour that dives into local lore and spooky tales of yesteryear. — Nicholas Derenzo, Travel + Leisure, 23 Sep. 2026

As tales of touring and recording with Diddy in other episodes fail to lead to a query about what the Bad Boy founder has been up to since 2024, the doc feels time-stamped and a few considerably eventful years old for the people who come up. — Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 22 Sep. 2026