parable

1. 1.

   a short moral story (often with animal characters)

   Synonymsfableallegoryapologue

   Broaderstory

   NarrowerAesop's fablesPilgrim's Progress
2. 2.

   (New Testament) any of the stories told by Jesus to convey his religious message

   “the parable of the prodigal son”

   Broaderstory

   New Testament

Other forms of parable

plural

parables·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about parable

What does parable mean?

parable means "a short moral story (often with animal characters)". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in parable?

parable has 3 syllables: par-a-ble. The stress falls on "par". In IPA it is /ˈpɛɹəbəl/.

What is another word for parable?

Close synonyms include fable, allegory, apologue. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is parable a common word?

parable is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.