Meanings
plural apologues
- countableuncountableA short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects; a fable.
[…] but though the mythic hero may thus be made to figure in a moral apologue, an imagination so little in keeping with his unethic nature jars upon the reader's mind.
1891, Edward Burnett Tylor, Primitive Culture, page 4091 more example
"Still I must bear my hard lot as well as I can—at least, I shall be amongst gentlefolks, and not with vulgar city people": and she fell to thinking of her Russell Square friends with that very same philosophical bitterness with which, in a certain apologue, the fox is represented as speaking of the grapes.
1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 7, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC - countablerhetoricuncountableThe use of fable to persuade the audience.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekἀπόλογος“story, tale, fable”
- Latinapologus
- Frenchapologue
- Englishapologue
Borrowed from French apologue, from Latin apologus from Ancient Greek ἀπόλογος (apólogos, “story, tale, fable”) from ἀπό- (apó-, “off, away from”) + λόγος (lógos, “speech”). Equivalent to apo- + -logue.
More words from French, Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan apòleg
- apòlega short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
Czech bajka
- bajkaa short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
French apologue, apologue
- apologuea short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
- apologuerhetoric: use of fable to persuade the audience
German Lehrfabel, Fabel
- Lehrfabela short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
- Fabela short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
Irish apalóg, fabhalscéal
- apalóga short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
- fabhalscéala short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
- fáithscéala short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
- uirscéala short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
Italian apologo
- apologoa short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
Latin apologus
- apologusa short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
Polish apolog, bajka
- apologa short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
- bajkaa short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
- apologrhetoric: use of fable to persuade the audience
- bajkarhetoric: use of fable to persuade the audience
Portuguese apólogo
- apólogoa short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
Russian ба́сня, нравоучи́тельная ба́сня
- ба́сня (básnja)a short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
- нравоучи́тельная ба́сня (nravoučítelʹnaja básnja)a short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
- аполо́г (apológ)a short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
- ба́йка (bájka)rhetoric: use of fable to persuade the audience
- ба́сня (básnja)rhetoric: use of fable to persuade the audience
Spanish apólogo
- apólogoa short story with a moral, often involving talking animals or objects
Cite this entry
apologue. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apologue
“apologue.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apologue. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “apologue,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apologue.
Source: apologue on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.