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Story vs Parable - What's the difference?

story | parable |

In obsolete terms the difference between story and parable

is that story is history while parable is that can easily be prepared or procured; obtainable.

As nouns the difference between story and parable

is that story is a sequence of real or fictional events; or, an account of such a sequence while parable is a short narrative illustrating a lesson (usually religious/moral) by comparison or analogy.

As verbs the difference between story and parable

is that story is to tell as a story; to relate or narrate about while parable is to represent by parable.

As an adjective parable is

that can easily be prepared or procured; obtainable.

story

English

Alternative forms

* storie (obsolete), storey

Noun

(stories)
  • A sequence of real or fictional events; or, an account of such a sequence.
  • * Ed. Rev.
  • Venice, with its unique city and its impressive story
  • * Sir W. Temple
  • The four great monarchies make the subject of ancient story .
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Travels and travails , passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.}}
  • A lie.
  • (chiefly, US) A floor or level of a building; a storey.
  • * 1900 , , (The House Behind the Cedars) , chapter I:
  • The lower story of the market-house was open on all four of its sides to the public square.
  • (US, colloquial, usually pluralized) A soap opera.
  • (obsolete) History.
  • * 1644 , (John Milton), (Aeropagitica) :
  • who is so unread or so uncatechis'd in story , that hath not heard of many sects refusing books as a hindrance, and preserving their doctrine unmixt for many ages, only by unwritt'n traditions.
  • A sequence of events, or a situation, such as might be related in an account.
  • Usage notes

    * (soap opera) Popularized in the 1950s, when soap operas were often billed as "continuing stories", the term "story" to describe a soap opera fell into disuse by the 21st century and is now used chiefly among older people and in rural areas. Other English-speaking countries used the term at its zenith as a "loaned" word from the United States.

    Synonyms

    * (account) tome * (lie) See * (floor) floor, level * (soap opera) soap opera, serial * narrative

    Derived terms

    * Banbury story of a cock and a bull * bedtime story * chain story * cock-and-bull story * cover story * end of story * fish story * ghost story * horror story * just-so story * likely story * love story * my stories * shaggy-dog story * short short story * short story * sob story * storiation * story editor * storybook * storyline * story of my life * storyteller * storytelling * success story * tall story * to cut a long story short * war story

    Verb

  • To tell as a story; to relate or narrate about.
  • * Shakespeare
  • How worthy he is I will leave to appear hereafter, rather than story him in his own hearing.
  • * Bishop Wilkins
  • It is storied of the brazen colossus in Rhodes, that it was seventy cubits high.

    Statistics

    *

    parable

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (=modern) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A short narrative illustrating a lesson (usually religious/moral) by comparison or analogy
  • ''In the New Testament the parables told by Jesus convey His message, as in "The parable of the prodigal son"
    ''Catholic sermons normally draw on at least one Biblical lecture, often parables .

    See also

    * fable * allegory * pericope * simile

    Verb

    (parabl)
  • To represent by parable.
  • Which by the ancient sages was thus parabled . — Milton.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) That can easily be prepared or procured; obtainable.
  • *, vol.1, New York Review of Books, 2001, p.306:
  • The most parable and easy, and about which many are employed, is to teach a school, turn lecturer or curate [...].
    (Sir Thomas Browne)

    Anagrams

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