as in tale
a work with imaginary characters and events that is shorter and usually less complex than a novel
her very first short story was accepted for publication in a local journal
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Recent Examples of short story
In adapting a Stephen King short story, director-writer Osgood Perkins clearly delights in crafting explosive, gory kills meant to spark a laugh more than terrify.
—
Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 22 Feb. 2025
The collection of short stories explores how and why people make financial decisions, and how psychology can work for or against them.
—Jennifer Liu, CNBC, 24 Feb. 2025
The $10 million movie is loosely based on a short story by Stephen King.
—Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Feb. 2025
Almost as long as that legendary master of horror Stephen King has been keeping book lovers up at night, filmmakers have been adapting his novels and short stories.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 21 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for short story
Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 22 Feb. 2025
The collection of short stories explores how and why people make financial decisions, and how psychology can work for or against them.
—Jennifer Liu, CNBC, 24 Feb. 2025
The $10 million movie is loosely based on a short story by Stephen King.
—Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Feb. 2025
Almost as long as that legendary master of horror Stephen King has been keeping book lovers up at night, filmmakers have been adapting his novels and short stories.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 21 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for short story
Recent Examples of Synonyms for short story
Noun
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Some of the men who were deported from Guantánamo to Venezuela have told a familiar tale of being beaten by guards, strip-searched, and put into solitary confinement, and of suicide attempts as well as hunger strikes to protest the inhumane conditions.—
Edwidge Danticat,
The New Yorker,
9 Mar. 2025
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Were the tales of alien abduction that became popular in the 1980s a kind of mass hallucination?—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
9 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Forbes Daily: Join over 1 million Forbes Daily subscribers and get our best stories, exclusive reporting and essential analysis of the day’s news in your inbox every weekday.—
Chris Malone Mendez,
Forbes,
8 Mar. 2025
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Both episodes owe a big spiritual debt to Lost, which also liked to toggle back and forth between the main island story, its characters’ former lives, and all its weird mythology.—
Alan Sepinwall,
Rolling Stone,
7 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Stag Dance, by Torrey Peters Peters' collection - three short stories and a novella that shares the book's name- playfully wreaks havoc with the tenuous barriers established by gender conventions.—
Colin Dwyer,
NPR,
11 Mar. 2025
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Additional books in the immensely popular series include A Court of Mist and Fury, A Court of Wings and Ruin, the novella A Court of Frost and Starlight and A Court of Silver Flames.—
Keisha Hatchett,
TVLine,
14 Feb. 2025
Noun
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The puzzle at the center of The Accountant 2 matters insofar as the film needs a narrative propellant.—
Lovia Gyarkye,
The Hollywood Reporter,
9 Mar. 2025
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Philibert, who edits his own films, added that the most important thing was to construct a narrative.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
9 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Short story.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/short%20story. Accessed 17 Mar. 2025.
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