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
The riffs and ribbing were still there, as were the parables about fame and celebrity as corruptive, murder-inspiring forces.
—
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 31 Oct. 2024
This approach, which was known as neoclassical economics, struck Harris as an unrealistic parable that didn’t reflect the real world.
—John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 2 Nov. 2024
The song feels like the confessional early raps of West, who’d deliver street parables on everything from love, shopping, and religion.
—Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 30 Oct. 2024
These are parables with one goal: to get us to the epiphanic moment in which their heroines become aware of patriarchy, in painful and reality-disrupting fashion.
—Sanjena Sathian, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for parable 
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 31 Oct. 2024
This approach, which was known as neoclassical economics, struck Harris as an unrealistic parable that didn’t reflect the real world.
—John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 2 Nov. 2024
The song feels like the confessional early raps of West, who’d deliver street parables on everything from love, shopping, and religion.
—Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 30 Oct. 2024
These are parables with one goal: to get us to the epiphanic moment in which their heroines become aware of patriarchy, in painful and reality-disrupting fashion.
—Sanjena Sathian, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for parable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for parable
Noun
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Hurston’s novel is therefore usually read as an allegory of Emancipation, the flight from Egypt as an escape from the bondage of slavery.—
Louis Menand,
The New Yorker,
13 Jan. 2025
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Corbet’s profile in the New Yorker tried to sweep him into cinema’s Pantheon by interpreting The Brutalist as a post-election anti-Trump allegory.—
Armond White,
National Review,
3 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Loading your audio article There’s an old fable about a frog in a boiling pot of water.—
Dieter Kurtenbach,
The Mercury News,
21 Jan. 2025
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The Brutalist is a Fitzcarraldo fable of artistic endeavor, a universal immigrant tale and a searing indictment of capitalism Jones plays opposite Brody as Tóth’s wife, Erzsébet, in an indelible portrait of a woman physically broken by war who remains resolutely unbroken in spirit.—
Wendell Steavenson,
Vogue,
5 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Per old wives’ tales, nesting is a phenomenon that happens near the end of gestation: a maternal instinct to prepare for birth.—
Betty Liu,
Bon Appétit,
20 Jan. 2025
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This incident serves as a cautionary tale for companies deploying AI in their communications.—
Rebekah Bastian,
Forbes,
20 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Parable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/parable. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
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