parable
/ˈpaɹəbəl/US/ˈpæɹ.ə.bəl/
parable noun: a short narrative illustrating a lesson (usually religious/moral) by comparison or analogy.
Noun
parable (plural parables)
- A short narrative illustrating a lesson (usually religious/moral) by comparison or analogy.
- In the New Testament the parables told by Jesus Christ convey His message, as in "The parable of the prodigal son".
- Catholic homilies normally draw on at least one Biblical lecture, often parables.
- Synonyms:
- exemplum
Verb
parable (third-person singular simple present parables, present participle parabling, simple past and past participle parabled)
- To represent by parable.
- Which by the ancient sages was thus parabled.1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: […], London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew] S[immons] […], →OCLC
Adjective
parable (comparative more parable, superlative most parable)
- That can easily be prepared or procured; obtainable.
- The most parable and easy, and about which many are employed, is to teach a school, turn lecturer or curate […].
- well-wishers unto parable Physick1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC
parable meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu
parable in Hindi
- short story illustrating a lesson
- दृष्टांत dŕṣṭānt
parable in Tamil
- நீதிக் கதை, குட்டிக்கதை, உவமை
parable in Urdu
- مثال
parable in Telugu
- parable
- చిన్నకథ cinnakatha
More languagesFewer languages
- parable in Malayalam
- ഉപമ upama
- parable in Kannada
- ನೀತಿಕಥೆ, ದೃಷ್ಟಾಂತ ಕಥೆ, ಒಳ್ಳೆ ನಡತೆಯ ಕತೆ, ಎತ್ತುಗೆ ಕತೆ
- parable in Tagalog
- sayaral
- parable in Indonesian
- parabel
- parable in Persian
- حکایت hekâyat
Examples of parable in a sentence
- The scholar thinks the quote and the parable were spoken on different occasions and only by accident were brought together here.
- The judge in the parable granted the widow's suit merely because she lay upon him, and was troublesome to him.
- Let’s look at the parable of the burger-flipper for a second.
Synonyms of parable
Forms of parable
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | parables |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | parables |
| present participle | parabling |
| past participle | parabled |
| past | parabled |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more parable |
| superlative | most parable |
Origin of parable
From Middle English parable, from Old French parable, parabole, from Late Latin parabola, from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ, “comparison”). Doublet of parabola, parole, and palaver.
From Latin parābilis, from parāre (“to prepare, procure”).
Words formed from parable
Questions about parable
- What does parable mean?
- Parable means a short narrative illustrating a lesson (usually religious/moral) by comparison or analogy.
- What is parable in Hindi?
- Parable in Hindi is दृष्टांत (dŕṣṭānt). See Parable meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is parable?
- Parable can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce parable?
- Parable is pronounced /ˈpaɹəbəl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of parable?
- The plural of parable is parables.
Words near parable in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: parable (page history and authors); parable (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); parable (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); చిన్నకథ (Telugu) (page history and authors); ഉപമ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); parable (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “parable.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/parable. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.