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apologue

apologue

9.9
A short story that teaches a lesson, often using animals
  • noun
  • /ˈæpəˌloʊg/
  • Archaic
translation icon : apólogo
  • His apologue illustrated how greed can lead to one's downfall, using the story of a selfish crow.

Examples

  • The fable about the tortoise and the hare is a classic apologue that teaches the value of persistence.

  • In the children's book, each apologue featured animals who learned important lessons about friendship and honesty.

  • Now, whether this be construed as a meaningless inadvertent eidolon or threatening apologue and reprimand, we plead much ignorance.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Yet this is not all: the story also closes by turning its protagonist into the unwitting hero in an apologue about eternal reconciliation: a narrative of "life everlasting" and "sacred, devoted love" (Turgenev 201).

    Academic text (2018)

Synonyms

parable
vsapologue
  • Literature
36 5.2

A simple story that teaches a moral lesson

focuses on moral teaching without spiritual emphasis
fable
vsapologue
  • Literature
23 3.5

A short story with animal characters that teaches a moral lesson

is similar but can appear without animal characters
allegory
vsapologue
  • Literature
12 7.8

A story or picture whose people and events show moral and political ideas

teaches a lesson more directly rather than through symbolic layers
fabula
vsapologue
  • Literature
9.9

A story that teaches a moral lesson

is more specific, usually a short tale teaching a lesson
exemplum
vsapologue
  • Literature
9.9

A short story told to show a moral or lesson

serves the same lesson but used more broadly outside sermons

How Moral

apologue
  • Archaic
9.9
parable
  • Literature
36 5.2
allegory
  • Literature
12 7.8
story
1.0
anecdote
102 4.1

Surface Forms

apologue singular
apologues plural

Etymology

The word apologue comes from an old Greek word made of apo- 'away' and logos 'word' or 'story', and you can see the same -log- in common words like dialogue and prologue. So an apologue is a short moral tale or fable, often with animals, used to teach a lesson.