as in allegory
a story intended to teach a basic truth or moral about life the film is an apologue of sorts, but the message is couched in a zany and action-filled plot

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for apologue
Noun
  • Using satirical allegory, broad farce, horror and violence, the visionary Korean master has made a string of standout genre films that double as subversive takes on sociopolitical rot, from Memories of Murder to The Host, Snowpiercer to Parasite, frequently making a virtue of tonal whiplash.
    David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Feb. 2025
  • Miller wrote the play as an allegory for McCarthyism, when the U.S. government persecuted people of being communists.
    Contributed Content, Twin Cities, 7 Feb. 2025
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
  • Brad Pitt, 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' (2020) In Quentin Tarantino’s alt-history fable, Pitt plays a steely stunt double equally adept at fixing TV antennas or dealing with the Manson Family, all with a grin on his weathered face.
    Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 28 Feb. 2025
  • Its surrealistic elements blend with realistic properties and a unique video-game-like computer animation to create something remarkable: a cautious environmental fable and a testament to the power of working together to achieve a common goal.
    Barry Levitt, Vulture, 14 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • Icelandic helmer Baltasar Kormákur directed the first episode and was heavily involved in the series, which brings an historical tale of Harold, Earl of Wessex (Norton), and William, Duke of Normandy (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), to life.
    Stewart Clarke, Deadline, 25 Feb. 2025
  • Notably, there was zero mention of Baldoni or his company, Wayfarer Studios, which had brought on Sony to market and distribute their adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel about a woman caught up in an intertwining tale of new love and domestic abuse.
    Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Feb. 2025
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Apologue.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apologue. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.

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