as in parable
a story intended to teach a basic truth or moral about life Dr. Seuss's story "The Sneetches" is a telling allegory about tolerance for people's differences

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of allegory Corbet’s profile in the New Yorker tried to sweep him into cinema’s Pantheon by interpreting The Brutalist as a post-election anti-Trump allegory. Armond White, National Review, 3 Jan. 2025 In the comment section for the film, on YouTube (where it has been watched by more than nine million people), someone noted the obvious allegory: a quesito without cheese; a Puerto Rico without Puerto Ricans. Graciela Mochkofsky, The New Yorker, 8 Jan. 2025 From the onset of Schauffele’s relationship with golf, motivational allegories and philosophical adages were fed into his psyche. Gabby Herzig, The Athletic, 2 Jan. 2025 The result is a powerful and poignant allegory, dense in metaphorical imagery, about the state and its people. Daron James, Los Angeles Times, 1 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for allegory 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for allegory
Noun
  • Bathed in a pink-pop glow, its pastiche of romance and horror collide in a viciously mischievous parable of technology and control that speaks to these most anxious times.
    Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 22 Jan. 2025
  • From Timothy Snyder’s chilling parables of fascism abroad to Heather Cox Richardson’s portraits of extremism at home, our leading professional historians have played no small part in entrenching this sequence as the fundamental narrative of our time.
    Matthew Karp, Harper's Magazine, 2 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • The bad news is that the same level of attention and care does not appear to have been extended to the story or the characters, which is lethal for something that’s supposed to be a modern-day fable.
    Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 26 Jan. 2025
  • All this recalls the fable of the boy who cried wolf once too often.
    Steve Forbes, Forbes, 16 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • And, in Washington, the 2004 tale of love and short-term memory loss took the crown.
    Melissa Santos, Axios, 11 Feb. 2025
  • Bar-Kar tells this tale of love, loss, and life-altering lyricism with the same tenderness of Ian’s songwriting.
    Audra Heinrichs, Rolling Stone, 10 Feb. 2025

Thesaurus Entries Near allegory

Cite this Entry

“Allegory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/allegory. Accessed 23 Feb. 2025.

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