fabulist
/'fæbjulist/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- A person who composes or relates fables: A fabulist is someone who creates or tells stories, typically fables, which are short tales that convey a moral lesson, often featuring animals as characters.
- A liar or teller of falsehoods: By extension, a fabulist can refer to a person who habitually invents or tells lies or elaborate untruths.
Usage Examples
- Noun (Creator of fables):
- Aesop is perhaps the most famous fabulist in history.
- The modern writer is considered a fabulist for her stories featuring talking trees.
- Noun (Teller of falsehoods):
- The politician was exposed as a fabulist who invented stories about his past.
- Don't believe him; he's a charming fabulist.
Advanced Usage
- "A congenital fabulist": A person who seems born to or inherently inclined to tell lies.
- He wasn't just lying about one event; he was revealed to be a congenital fabulist.
- Used in literary criticism to describe an author whose work is characterized by fantastical or mythical storytelling.
- The novelist's style places him among the great fabulists of the 20th century.
Variants and Related Words
- Fable (n): A short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral.
- The fable of "The Tortoise and the Hare" teaches about perseverance.
- Fabulous (adj): Extraordinarily good; also, known from fables, mythical.
- We had a fabulous time at the party. (Note: This common meaning of "wonderful" is distinct from the original "fable-like" meaning.)
Synonyms
- Storyteller (especially for the first meaning).
- Mythmaker.
- Prevaricator (for the second meaning).
- Fabricator.
Related Phrases
- "A fabulist of the first order": An expert or extreme liar or storyteller.
- His testimony was dismissed; the jury saw him as a fabulist of the first order.
Noun
- a person who tells or invents fables