- 1a story created using the imagination, especially one that is full of action and adventure Dickens' “A Tale of Two Cities” a fairy/moral/romantic, etc. tale His latest book is a delightful children's tale about talking animals. see folk tale, folk tale
- 2an exciting spoken description of an event, which may not be completely true I love listening to his tales of life at sea. I've heard tales of people seeing ghosts in that house. The team's tale of woe continued on Saturday (= they lost another game). Her experiences provide a cautionary tale (= a warning) for us all. see tattletale Idioms
to survive a difficult or dangerous experience so that you can tell others what really happened
an old idea or belief that has been proved not to be scientific
to give some information that is different from what you expect or have been told
to explain itself, without needing any further explanation or comment Her face told its own story.
to tell someone about something that another person has done wrong
Check pronunciation: tale