al|le|go|ry

al|le|go|ry «AL uh _GR ee, -_GOHR-», noun, plural -ries.

1. a story that is told to explain or teach something, especially a long and complicated story with an underlying meaning different from the surface meaning of the story itself. The parables in the Bible are allegories. »

Bunyan's “Pilgrim's Progress” and Spenser's “The Faerie Queene” are well-known allegories in English.

2. a method of speaking or writing characterized by this kind of figurative description.

╂[< Latin allēgoria < Greek allēgoríā < allēgoreîn speak figuratively < állos other + agoreúein speak, speak publicly < agor assembly]

Usage An allegory, a fable, or a parable is a story made up to present ideas in a concrete, vivid way. The incidents of an allegory may stand for political, spiritual, or romantic situations; its characters may be types (»

Mr. Worldly Wiseman

) or personifications (»

Courtesy, Jealousy

). The characters of a fable are animals or inanimate objects that by acting and talking like human beings call attention to human weaknesses or desired virtues and teach a common-sense lesson that is usually stated at the end: »

Aesop's fables.

A parable is a short story of everyday life used to teach a moral by comparison: »

Jesus used the parable of the mustard seed to show how a small beginning can produce great results.