short story

Definition of short storynext
as in tale
a work with imaginary characters and events that is shorter and usually less complex than a novel her very first short story was accepted for publication in a local journal

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 short story Founded in 2021 by former Texas Ballet Theater company member Diana Crowder, Pegasus Contemporary Ballet had a breakthrough performance last fall with Crowder’s captivating adaptation of The Martian author Andy Weir’s short story The Egg. Manuel Mendoza, Dallas Morning News, 26 Mar. 2026 Sultan’s latest posthumous collection shifts the focus to the artist’s mostly unpublished writings, which include his musings on teaching and art, unfinished short stories, dream logs, and essays. Vanity Fair, 26 Mar. 2026 The film will be adapted from Pulitzer Prize finalist Dave Eggers’ short story of the same name, which follows a sports journalist whose life and career is changed after a pitcher is brought up from the minor leagues. Zara Irshad, San Francisco Chronicle, 26 Mar. 2026 By 1929, his agency commanded $4,000 (more than $70,000 in today’s dollars) from The Saturday Evening Post for a single short story by Fitzgerald. Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for short story
Recent Examples of Synonyms for short story
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
Noun
  • For more than four decades, the Korean immigrant has worked at the shop near Travis Air Force Base, hearing countless stories of loss, sacrifice and heartbreak from military families and service members.
    Kenny Choi, CBS News, 28 Mar. 2026
  • Paxton told stories about running for office for the first time and his 2023 impeachment.
    Eleanor Dearman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • Two Prosecutors is based on a novella by Georgy Demidov, a physicist who spent 18 years in Soviet prison camps and was rehabilitated in the late 1950s, only to then have his work seized by the authorities; most of his writings were only published following his death in 1987.
    Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 24 Mar. 2026
  • The stories in this collection range from a novella from her post-apocalyptic Sixth World series to a science fiction piece about a conflicted student attending university on a space station.
    Erik Pedersen, Oc Register, 20 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • That will be part of the narrative of his return.
    Sam McDowell, Kansas City Star, 2 Apr. 2026
  • Each stamp is accompanied by contextual text that situates the object within the broader Revolutionary narrative.
    Amanda Greenwood, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Apr. 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Short story.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/short%20story. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.

More from Merriam-Webster on short story

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster