1
2
a
: a series of events or facts told or presented : account
b(1)
: a report of a private or confidential matter
dead men tell no tales
(2)
: a libelous report or piece of gossip
Examples of tale in a Sentence
The movie is a stirring tale of courage.
We listened to his familiar tale of woe as he talked again about the failure of his marriage.
He told us thrilling tales about his adventures as a pilot in the war.
Are you telling tales again? Or is that the truth?
Recent Examples on the Web
That changed in the 2010s, as the rise of streamers resulted in a spike in nonfiction titles, especially those with broad commercial potential, like celebrity and sports stories and true-crime tales.
—
Katie Kilkenny, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Apr. 2024
Gird your loins for the tragic tale of Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader), the young Tudor noblewoman who was Queen of England for nine days and then beheaded in 553… F*ck that.
—Jack Dunn, Variety, 18 Apr. 2024
But Cheech Marin as Pollo, the country club’s groundskeeper, tells a richer tale.
—Armond White, National Review, 17 Apr. 2024
Yes, she’s penned more than a dozen books chronicling tales of intrigue, romance, and adventure.
—TIME, 17 Apr. 2024
Like the unnamed narrator who finds Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter in the Salem Custom House and then sets about telling her tale, Banks’s narrators are anonymous busybodies and town gossips, nosy neighbors or observers once removed from the action.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2024
But outside its door, a display of century-old fine china tells the tale of the space’s original occupants: Fred Harvey and Union Station’s first visitors.
—Jenna Thompson, Kansas City Star, 17 Apr. 2024
Today, Magic Kingdom Park bridges the old with the new, inviting guests to relive the tales of childhood and enjoy beloved attractions, like Pirates of the Caribbean.
—Carly Caramanna, Travel + Leisure, 17 Apr. 2024
The defense played for the jury tapes of the prosecution’s star witness, LAPD homicide detective Mark Fuhrman, casually using the N-word while describing tales of police delivering beatings, falsifying arrests, planting evidence and generally singling out minorities for harsh and brutal treatment.
—Libor Jany, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2024
Katie Kilkenny, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Apr. 2024
Gird your loins for the tragic tale of Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader), the young Tudor noblewoman who was Queen of England for nine days and then beheaded in 553… F*ck that.
—Jack Dunn, Variety, 18 Apr. 2024
But Cheech Marin as Pollo, the country club’s groundskeeper, tells a richer tale.
—Armond White, National Review, 17 Apr. 2024
Yes, she’s penned more than a dozen books chronicling tales of intrigue, romance, and adventure.
—TIME, 17 Apr. 2024
Like the unnamed narrator who finds Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter in the Salem Custom House and then sets about telling her tale, Banks’s narrators are anonymous busybodies and town gossips, nosy neighbors or observers once removed from the action.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2024
But outside its door, a display of century-old fine china tells the tale of the space’s original occupants: Fred Harvey and Union Station’s first visitors.
—Jenna Thompson, Kansas City Star, 17 Apr. 2024
Today, Magic Kingdom Park bridges the old with the new, inviting guests to relive the tales of childhood and enjoy beloved attractions, like Pirates of the Caribbean.
—Carly Caramanna, Travel + Leisure, 17 Apr. 2024
The defense played for the jury tapes of the prosecution’s star witness, LAPD homicide detective Mark Fuhrman, casually using the N-word while describing tales of police delivering beatings, falsifying arrests, planting evidence and generally singling out minorities for harsh and brutal treatment.
—Libor Jany, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tale.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near tale
Cite this Entry
“Tale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tale. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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