as in allegory
a story intended to teach a basic truth or moral about life
the parable in which the repentant sinner is compared to the returning prodigal son who is welcomed home
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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 parable
What kind of message would prime Jeezy have presented without the pyrex parables in tow?
—
Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 18 Dec. 2025
The wordplay is as colorful as the sonics are sedate, tag-team player parables sailing over production seeking a slippery middle ground between East and West Coast throwback jams.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 2 Dec. 2025
The musical features a ragtag group who help Jesus tell various parables.
—Mo Rocca, CBS News, 16 Nov. 2025
This more ambitious effort, reflective of his Coptic Christian background, will stand or fall for viewers as a parable of faith versus doubt.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 12 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for parable
Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 18 Dec. 2025
The wordplay is as colorful as the sonics are sedate, tag-team player parables sailing over production seeking a slippery middle ground between East and West Coast throwback jams.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 2 Dec. 2025
The musical features a ragtag group who help Jesus tell various parables.
—Mo Rocca, CBS News, 16 Nov. 2025
This more ambitious effort, reflective of his Coptic Christian background, will stand or fall for viewers as a parable of faith versus doubt.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 12 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for parable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for parable
Noun
-
As playful as the movie is, its central tale of persecution and resistance plays not like an allegory but like a communion, a linking of the times—the inspiration of conscience by the revelation of past heroism, political and artistic.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
27 Mar. 2026
-
But if these movies are progressive allegories of beings transcending their differences, then Hoppers is a surprisingly blunt pushback to that notion.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Described as a political fable that combines elements of a crime thriller with epic tragedy, the plot of Minotaur sees a Russian corporate executives preparing to carry out mass layoffs, who discovers his wife is having an affair.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
18 Mar. 2026
-
That lurid fable was followed by 2023’s Pictures of Ghosts, an impressionistic documentary that told the parallel stories of Mendonça Filho’s life in movies and Recife’s decaying cinemas.—
Michael Snyder,
The Atlantic,
13 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Jude relocates this tale of troubled conscience to present-day Cluj-Napoca, in Transylvania, and subjects it to a corrosively cynical twist.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
27 Mar. 2026
-
My confidence was further bolstered when Zenker informed me about Beau Miles, an adventure filmmaker known for documenting his self-experiments, who, back in 2020, when an entirely different disaster descended upon us, ate only beans for 40 days (191 cans to be exact)—and lived to tell the tale.—
Ayana Underwood,
Outside,
27 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Parable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/parable. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
