- a story created using the imagination, especially one that is full of action and adventure
- a coming-of-age/morality tale
- tale of something The story is a classic tale of love and betrayal.
- Dickens’ ‘A Tale of Two Cities’
- His latest book is a delightful children’s tale about talking animals.
Homophones tail | taletail tale/teɪl//teɪl/- tail noun
- The peacock fans out its magnificent tail to attract females.
- tail verb
- A spy is sent to tail the family and find out everything they do.
- tale noun
- She told the children the tale of the tortoise and the hare.
Extra ExamplesTopics Literature and writingb2- It's a moral tale about a baker and a shoemaker.
- a dark tale of sexual obsession
- a tale about a hungry snake
- a tale set in 19th-century Moscow
- an epic tale of courage and heroism
- tales of adventure
- the curious tale of the man who sold his hair
- the rags-to-riches tale of an orphan who becomes a star
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- long
- rambling
- familiar
- …
- narrate
- recount
- regale somebody with
- …
- begin
- unfold
- concern somebody/something
- …
- tale about
- tale of
- a tale of woe
- (have) a tale to tell
- tell tales
- …
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- tale (of something) an 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.
- She regaled us with tales of her wild youth.
- The team's tale of woe continued on Saturday (= they lost another match).
- Her experiences provide a cautionary tale (= a warning) for us all.
Extra Examples- She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.
- the sorry tale of his marriage breakdown
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- long
- rambling
- familiar
- …
- narrate
- recount
- regale somebody with
- …
- begin
- unfold
- concern somebody/something
- …
- tale about
- tale of
- a tale of woe
- (have) a tale to tell
- tell tales
- …
Word OriginOld English talu ‘telling, something told’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch taal ‘speech’ and German Zahl ‘number’, also to tell.
Idioms
See tale in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee tale in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishlive, etc. to tell the tale
- to survive a difficult or dangerous experience so that you can tell others what really happenedTopics Dangerc2
an old wives’ tale
- (disapproving) an old idea or belief that people now know is not correct
tell a different story/tale
- to give some information that is different from what you expect or have been told
- These drugs are widely believed to be effective medications. The data, however, tell a different story.
tell its own tale/story
- to explain itself, without needing any further explanation or comment
- Her face told its own story.
tell tales (about something/on somebody)
- to tell somebody about something that another person has done wrong related noun telltale
Check pronunciation:
tale