Fable vs Idiom - What's the difference?
fable | idiom |
A fictitious narrative intended to enforce some useful truth or precept, usually with animals, birds etc as characters; an apologue. Prototypically, .
Any story told to excite wonder; common talk; the theme of talk.
* 4:7,
* ,
Fiction; untruth; falsehood.
* ,
The plot, story, or connected series of events forming the subject of an epic or dramatic poem.
* Dryden
(archaic) To compose fables; hence, to write or speak fiction ; to write or utter what is not true.
* Shakespeare, 1 Henry VI , IV-ii:
* :
* :
(archaic) To feign; to invent; to devise, and speak of, as true or real; to tell of falsely.
* :
A manner of speaking, a way of expressing oneself.
A language or dialect.
Specifically, a particular variety of language; a restricted dialect used in a given historical period, context etc.
* 2010 , (Christopher Hitchens), "The Other'' L-Word", ''Vanity Fair , 13 Jan 2010:
An artistic style (for example, in art, architecture, or music); an instance of such a style.
An expression peculiar to or characteristic of a particular language, especially when the meaning is illogical or separate from the meanings of its component words.
* 2008 , Patricia Hampl, “You’re History”, in Patricia Hampl and Elaine Tyler May (editors), Tell Me True: Memoir, History, and Writing a Life , Minnesota Historical Society, ISBN 9780873516303,
(programming) A programming construct or phraseology generally held to be the most efficient, elegant or effective means to achieve a particular result or behavior.
* {{quote-book, 2005, Magnus Lie Hetland, Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional, page=100, isbn=159059519X
, passage=I have to use the same assignment and call to raw_input in two places. How can I avoid that? I can use the while True/break idiom :
As nouns the difference between fable and idiom
is that fable is a fictitious narrative intended to enforce some useful truth or precept, usually with animals, birds etc as characters; an apologue. Prototypically, Aesop's Fables while idiom is a manner of speaking, a way of expressing oneself.As a verb fable
is to compose fables; hence, to write or speak fiction ; to write or utter what is not true.fable
English
(wikipedia fable)Noun
(en noun)- Old wives' fables .
- We grew / The fable of the city where we dwelt.
- It would look like a fable to report that this gentleman gives away a great fortune by secret methods.
- The moral is the first business of the poet; this being formed, he contrives such a design or fable as may be most suitable to the moral.
Synonyms
* (fiction to enforce a useful precept) morality play * (story to excite wonder) legend * (falsehood)Verb
(fabl)- He Fables not.
- Vain now the tales which fabling poets tell.
- He fables , yet speaks truth.
- The hell thou fablest .
References
* (Webster 1913) ----idiom
English
(wikipedia idiom)Noun
(en-noun)- Many parents and teachers have become irritated to the point of distraction at the way the weed-style growth of "like" has spread through the idiom of the young.
page 134:
- You’re history , we say . Surely it is an American idiom . Impossible to imagine a postwar European saying, “You’re history. . . . That’s history,” meaning fuhgeddaboudit, pal.
Synonyms
* (phrase) expression (loosely), form of words (loosely), phrase (loosely)Derived terms
* idiolect * idiomatic * idiomatical * idiomaticallySee also
*External links
*American idioms- a comprehensive list of idioms, browsable through alphabetical links. Includes parts of speech, definitions and example sentences. *
English and American Idioms- RSS subscription channel *
Glossary of Linguistics*
Today's English Idioms at GoEnglish.com* *