{
    "term": "tale",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "b2",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "a story created using the imagination, especially one that is full of action and adventure",
            "sensetop": "tale of something",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a coming-of-age/morality tale"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The story is a classic tale of love and betrayal.",
                    "contextForm": "tale of something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Dickens’ ‘A Tale of Two Cities’"
                },
                {
                    "text": "His latest book is a delightful children’s tale about talking animals."
                },
                {
                    "text": "It's a moral tale about a baker and a shoemaker."
                },
                {
                    "text": "a dark tale of sexual obsession"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a tale about a hungry snake"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a tale set in 19th-century Moscow"
                },
                {
                    "text": "an epic tale of courage and heroism"
                },
                {
                    "text": "tales of adventure"
                },
                {
                    "text": "the curious tale of the man who sold his hair"
                },
                {
                    "text": "the rags-to-riches tale of an orphan who becomes a star"
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Literature and writing"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["long", "rambling", "familiar"],
                "verb + tale": ["narrate", "recount", "regale somebody with"],
                "tale + verb": ["begin", "unfold", "concern somebody/​something"],
                "preposition": ["tale about", "tale of"],
                "phrases": ["a tale of woe", "(have) a tale to tell", "tell tales"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "an exciting spoken description of an event, which may not be completely true",
            "sensetop": "tale (of something)",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I love listening to his tales of life at sea."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I've heard tales of people seeing ghosts in that house."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She regaled us with tales of her wild youth."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The team's **tale of woe** continued on Saturday *(= they lost another match)*."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Her experiences provide a **cautionary tale** *(= a warning)* for us all."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence."
                },
                {
                    "text": "the sorry tale of his marriage breakdown"
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["long", "rambling", "familiar"],
                "verb + tale": ["narrate", "recount", "regale somebody with"],
                "tale + verb": ["begin", "unfold", "concern somebody/​something"],
                "preposition": ["tale about", "tale of"],
                "phrases": ["a tale of woe", "(have) a tale to tell", "tell tales"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to survive a difficult or dangerous experience so that you can tell others what really happened",
            "examples": [],
            "topics": ["Danger"]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "an old idea or belief that people now know is not correct",
            "labels": "(disapproving)",
            "examples": []
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to give some information that is different from what you expect or have been told",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "These drugs are widely believed to be effective medications. The data, however, tell a different story."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to explain itself, without needing any further explanation or comment",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Her face told its own story."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to tell somebody about something that another person has done wrong",
            "examples": []
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/teɪl/",
                "audio": "ta/tale/tale__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/teɪl/",
                "audio": "ta/tale/tale__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Old English talu ‘telling, something told’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch taal ‘speech’ and German Zahl ‘number’, also to tell."
}