story
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Alternative forms [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Anglo-Norman estorie, from Latin historia, from Ancient Greek ἱστορία (historia, “history”). Compare history and storey (“floor of a building”).
Pronunciation [edit]
Noun [edit]
story (plural stories)
- A sequence of real or fictional causal events; or, an account of such a sequence.
- The book tells the story of two roommates.
- A lie.
- You’ve been telling stories again, haven’t you?
- (chiefly US) A floor or level of a building; a storey.
- Our shop was on the fourth story of the building, so we had to install an elevator.
- 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, 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.
- What will she do without being able to watch her stories?
- (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.
- 1644, John Milton, Aeropagitica:
- A sequence of events, or a situation, such as might be related in an account.
- What's the story with him?
- I tried it again; same story, no error message, nothing happened.
Usage notes [edit]
- (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 [edit]
- (account): tome
- (lie): See lie
- (floor): floor, level
- (soap opera): soap opera, serial
- (sequence of events; situtation): narrative
Derived terms [edit]
terms derived from story
Translations [edit]
account of events
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lie — see lie
level of a building
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Verb [edit]
story (third-person singular simple present stories, present participle storying, simple past and past participle storied)
- 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.
- Shakespeare
Statistics [edit]
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Most common English words before 1923: information · seem · book · #469: story · deep · meet · interest