How to Use tale in a Sentence

tale

noun
  • The movie is a stirring tale of courage.
  • Are you telling tales again? Or is that the truth?
  • He told us thrilling tales about his adventures as a pilot in the war.
  • We listened to his familiar tale of woe as he talked again about the failure of his marriage.
  • Plus, don’t miss the whale of a tale that started with a cloud of snot.
    CNN, 17 Oct. 2023
  • The tale of the finding of the Gloucester was picturesque, too.
    Sam Knight, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2024
  • Freaky films are meant to be shared, in the dark, like campfire tales.
    The New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2024
  • And that is the tale of two pardons — and one hateful man.
    Lz Granderson, The Mercury News, 23 May 2024
  • The true-crime tale of a genius art thief who kept all the spoils for himself.
    The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 7 Feb. 2024
  • William Faulkner told all sorts of tall tales about his life and work.
    James Campbell, WSJ, 17 Nov. 2023
  • The weeks ahead will tell the tale of what the public makes of Johnson’s anti-hero.
    J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 22 Oct. 2022
  • The amount of half-down 3-pointers in the closing minutes told the tale: Close, but not enough.
    Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press, 12 Jan. 2024
  • If only the state of the modern workplace were a Seussian tale.
    Ann Kowal Smith, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024
  • Whatever could be made of that tale, the new face—his face—was here to stay.
    Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2023
  • The tale of that match has been told a few times in the quarter-century since.
    Jack Lang, The Athletic, 7 Jan. 2025
  • That fact is no less improbable than the tale that led Vail to the Beach Boys in the first place.
    Joe Rubin, Sacramento Bee, 27 Mar. 2024
  • This cautionary tale gets to the heart of the dark side of celebrity culture.
    Jessica Gentile, Vulture, 8 Sep. 2023
  • Of course, for the moment this is mostly talk, and tales have a way of spreading.
    Jon Chesto, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Apr. 2023
  • Of the men who manned the Armada, fewer than half returned to tell the tale.
    Stephen Brumwell, WSJ, 27 Jan. 2023
  • The director didn’t know it, but Glen Powell had just the tale.
    Robert Daniels, Los Angeles Times, 22 Nov. 2022
  • This is also a tale about the quest to understand one’s roots.
    Terry W. Hartle, The Christian Science Monitor, 11 July 2024
  • Check out the exhibits, take the tour and hear the tale of the 1964 tsunami that swept across the city and stranded the lighthouse keepers in the tower.
    Jackie Burrell, The Mercury News, 8 Apr. 2024
  • Each tale touches on the meaning of Christmas in its own way.
    Sezín Devi Koehler, EW.com, 6 Dec. 2024
  • All the while, the 2014 pro-democracy uprisings are the backdrop to this tale.
    Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 26 Jan. 2024
  • That’s what counts as a silver lining to this sorry tale.
    Sal Pizarro, The Mercury News, 12 Mar. 2024
  • But that’s only because this is a tale of justice, not vengeance.
    Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post, 20 Oct. 2022
  • The timeless tale has resonated for decades and shows no signs of stopping.
    Angel Madison, Country Living, 6 June 2023
  • Needless to say, the photographs only tell half the tale.
    Dr. Tessa Dunlop, Town & Country, 2 Apr. 2023
  • Prince Oak, heir to Elfhame, takes center stage in this new tale, eight years after the Battle of the Serpent.
    Leah Campano, Seventeen, 12 Dec. 2022
  • Not long ago, Mallaby recommended to us a few of the best books about such tales.
    The New Yorker, 8 Jan. 2025

Some of 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.

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