story

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See also: Story

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has articles on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈstɔː.ɹi/
  • Audio (UK)
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  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔːɹi

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English storie, storye, from Anglo-Norman estorie, from Latin historia, from Ancient Greek ἱστορίᾱ (historíā, “learning through research”), from ἱστορέω (historéō, “to research, inquire (and) record”), from ἵστωρ (hístōr, “the knowing, wise one”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, know”). Doublet of history and storey.

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

story (plural stories)

  1. A sequence of real or fictional events; or, an account of such a sequence.
    Synonym: tome
    • 1673, William Temple, An Essay upon the Advancement of Trade in Ireland
      it must be exploded for fabulous, with other relics of ancient story.
    • June 1861, Edinburgh Review, The Kingdom of Italy
      Venice, with its unique city and its impressive story
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:
      The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.
    • 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:
      Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.
    The book tells the story of two roommates.
  2. A lie, fiction.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lie
    You’ve been telling stories again, haven’t you?
  3. (US, colloquial, usually pluralized) A soap opera.
    Synonym: serial
    What will she do without being able to watch her stories?
    • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things
      He stood on the doorstep for a minute, listening for sounds inside the house — a radio, a TV tuned to one of the stories […]
  4. (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.
  5. A sequence of events, or a situation, such as might be related in an account.
    Synonym: narrative
    What's the story with him?
    I tried it again; same story, no error message, nothing happened.
    The images it captured help tell a story of extreme loss: 25 percent of its ice and four of its 19 glaciers have disappeared since 1957.
  6. (social media) A chronological collection of pictures or short videos published by a user on an application or website that is typically only available for a short period.
    stop posting entire concerts on your story[1]
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.
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from story
Descendants[edit]
  • → Welsh: stori
Translations[edit]
lie — see lie

Verb[edit]

story (third-person singular simple present stories, present participle storying, simple past and past participle storied)

  1. To tell as a story; to relate or narrate about.

Etymology 2[edit]

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Probably as etymology 1, since historia already had this meaning in medieval Anglo-Latin.[1] An alternative suggestion derives it from Old French *estoree (“a thing built, a building”), from estoree (“built”), feminine past participle of estorer (“to build”), from Latin instauro (“to construct, build, erect”).

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

story (plural stories)

  1. (obsolete) A building or edifice.
  2. (chiefly US) A floor or level of a building; a storey.
    Synonyms: floor, level
    Our shop was on the fourth story of the building, so we had to install an elevator.
  3. (typography) Alternative form of storey
Translations[edit]
storey — see storey
Usage notes[edit]

See storey.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “story”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Borrowed from Old French estoree, past participle of estorer. Alternatively, the same word as storie.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈstɔriː(ə)/, /ˈstɔːriː(ə)/

Noun[edit]

story (plural storyes) (rare)

  1. A level of a building.
  2. A line of paddles on a ship.
Descendants[edit]
References[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old French estorie, estoire.

Verb[edit]

story

  1. Alternative form of storie
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