English Dictionary
Definition of “tale”
tale (teɪl
)
Definitions
noun
- a report, narrative, or story
- one of a group of short stories connected by an overall narrative framework
- a malicious or meddlesome rumour or piece of gossip ⇒
to bear tales against someone
- ((in combination) ⇒
talebearer
taleteller
- a fictitious or false statement
- See tell tales
- See tell a tale
- See tell its own tale
- archaic
- a number; amount
- computation or enumeration
- an obsolete word for talk
Word Origin
Old English talu list; related to Old Frisian tele talk, Old Saxon, Old Norse tala talk, number, Old High German zala number
Synonyms
View thesaurus entry
=
story,
narrative,
anecdote,
account,
relation,
novel,
legend,
fiction,
romance,
saga,
short story,
yarn,
fable,
narration,
conte,
spiel,
urban myth,
urban legend,
Quotations
"And so from hour to hour we ripe and ripe,And then from hour to hour we rot and rot;And thereby hangs a tale"
William Shakespeare"A tale never loses in the telling"
Translations
- British English:
tale
A tale is a story, especially one involving adventure or magic....stories, poems and folk tales.teɪl NOUN ...stories, poems and folk tales.
- Spanish:
cuento
nm
- French:
récit
nm
- German:
Erzählung
nf
- Chinese: 故事 n
- Arabic: حِكَايَة n
- Portuguese: conto nm
- Russian: сказка nf
- Croatian: priča nm
- Czech: příběh nm
- Danish: fortælling nutr
- Dutch: sprookje nnt
- Finnish: tarina n
- Greek: μύθος nm
- Italian: storia nf
- Japanese: 話 n
- Korean: 이야기 n
- Norwegian: historie nm
- Polish: opowieść nf
- Brazilian Portuguese: conto nm
- European Spanish:
cuento
nm
- Swedish: berättelse nutr
- Thai: เรื่องเล่า n
- Turkish: masal n
- Vietnamese: câu chuyện n
Usage examples
It was a typical tale of Montauk folk: two people from different corners of the world, thrown together at this windblown outpost.
Mark Mills, AMAGANSETT (2004)At one point, he told the crowd the tale of a Vietnam vet who expressed severe reservations about war in Iraq to Vedder.
NME (New Musical Express) (2003)Personal Focus gets off to a dramatic start with a tale that will make your heart ache.
Globe and Mail (2003)Even so, Bram Stoker's dense, dark, and much misappropriated tale is still as sexy as hell.
Glasgow Herald (2001)His lordship said nothing, however, when the lame tale was done.
Bernard Cornwell, SHARPE'S PREY (2002)
