tale

Universal Words noun 1 an imaginative story, especially one that is full of action and adventure: Dickens' 'A Tale of Two Cities' * a fairy / moral / romantic tale * His latest book is a delightful children's tale about talking animals. seealsoFOLKTALE 2 an exciting spoken description of an event, which may not be completely true: I love listening to his tales of life at sea. * I've heard tales of people seeing ghosts in that house. * The team's tale of woe continued on Saturday (= they lost another match). * Her experiences provide a cautionary tale (= a warning) for us all. seealsoTELLTALE IDIOMS see OLD, TELL