Meanings
nountall tale (plural tall tales)
plural tall tales
- idiomaticA tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated; also, an account of questionable veracity; a lie, an untruth.
He returned on Monday with a tall tale about a 100-pound fish he had caught.
1 more example
The head-in-sand idea is a threadbare, 2,000-year-old hand-me-down from the Roman naturalist Pliny, who sometimes passed on tall tales.
2020 August 4, Richard Conniff, “They may look goofy, but ostriches are nobody’s fool”, in National Geographic MagazineSynonyms: Banbury story of a cock and a bull, cock-and-bull story, fish story, tall story, traveller's tale
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated; also, an account of questionable veracity; a lie, an untruth.
Also see
Origin
From tall (“exaggerated”) + tale.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian лъжа́
- лъжа́ (lăžá)tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Chinese Cantonese 吹水
- 吹水 (ceoi¹ seoi²)tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Chinese Mandarin 吹牛
- 吹牛 (chuīniú)tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Dutch sterk verhaal
- sterk verhaaltale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Finnish kalajuttu
- kalajuttutale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
French galéjade, histoire à dormir debout
- galéjadetale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- histoire à dormir debouttale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
German Phantasterei, Seemannsgarn
- Phantastereitale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- Seemannsgarntale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- Spinnereitale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- Märchengeschichtetale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- dick aufgetragene Geschichtetale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Hebrew צ׳יזבט
- צ׳יזבט (chizbat)tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Hindi दंतकथा
- दंतकथा (dantakthā)tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Hungarian dajkamese, füllentés
- dajkamesetale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- füllentéstale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- hantatale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- háryjánoskodástale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- hihetetlen/képtelen történettale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- lódítástale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- mesetale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- nagyotmondástale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Icelandic ýkjusaga
- ýkjusagatale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Irish abhóg, scéal áibhéalach
- abhógtale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- scéal áibhéalachtale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- siollógtale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Italian balla, fandonia
- ballatale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- fandoniatale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- panzanatale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- storiellinatale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Japanese 駄法螺, ほら話
- 駄法螺 (dabora)tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- ほら話 (horabanashi)tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Polish niewiarygodna historia
- niewiarygodna historiatale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Portuguese conto da carochinha, conversa fiada
- conto da carochinhatale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- conversa fiadatale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- história de pescadortale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- história para boi dormirtale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Russian ба́йка, небыли́ца
- ба́йка (bájka)tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- небыли́ца (nebylíca)tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- враньё (vranʹjó)tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Spanish cuento chino, patraña
- cuento chinotale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- patrañatale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Swedish rövarhistoria, fantasteri
- rövarhistoriatale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
- fantasteritale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Ukrainian небили́ця
- небили́ця (nebylýcja)tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Yiddish באָבע־מעשׂה
- באָבע־מעשׂה (bobe-mayse)tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with tall tale
emailmailretailscaledetailfailtrailthumbnailtailtaledalejailyalepalegalesailavailbailvalealeGailhalehailvail
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
tall tale. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tall%20tale
MLA
“tall tale.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tall%20tale. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tall tale,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tall%20tale.
Source: tall tale on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.