Phrase guide

tall story

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /tɔːl ˈstɔːɹi/
  • General-American: /tɔl ˈstɔɹi/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɔːɹi

1

noun

Meaning 1

Synonym of tall tale (“a tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated; also, an account of questionable veracity; a lie, an untruth”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Banbury story of a cock and a bull, cock-and-bull story, fish story, traveller's tale, tall tale

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From tall (“exaggerated”) + story.