How to Use tall tale/story in a Sentence

tall tale/story

noun
Definition of tall tale/storynext
  • Plus, the tall tale of a four-footed police chase in Missouri.
    — CNN, 21 Sep. 2023
  • Though in this case, the fact in question may be more of a tall tale—but an amusing one, nonetheless.
    — Chris Klimek, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Dec. 2023
  • This isn’t some old-timer’s tall tale: Lori Ford has been walking two miles down a dirt road, with snow past her knees, just to get to work this month.
    — Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 2023
  • Also, Stan's tall tale gives Linklater the barest minimum of a clothesline on which to hang his vignettes.
    — Peter Opaskar, Ars Technica, 10 Apr. 2022
  • Whether looking for an encounter to run tonight or a tavern to spin a tall tale, these boxes from Steamforged Games are handy for any Dungeon Master.
    — Rob Wieland, Forbes, 1 July 2022
  • There’s an overt element of exaggeration that bends the story into the substance and the tone of legend—the effect is of an onscreen tall tale.
    — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 2 June 2022
  • The monochrome cinematography has a spooky feel to it that holds attention — apt for a film that plays like an enchanting tall tale seeped in ancient lore.
    — Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 8 Dec. 2023
  • His friends never realized the deception, enthralled by his ability to weave a tall tale.
    — Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2023
  • According to this tall tale, Congress would then certify these fake electoral votes, and Donald Trump would be re-elected.
    — Charlie Dent, CNN, 21 June 2022
  • When a big-time Hollywood producer steals his class paper and turns it into a hit movie, no one believes Jason's latest tall tale.
    — Chaise Sanders, Country Living, 13 Sep. 2022
  • It’s often labeled a tall tale given Ventoux’s 6,273-foot summit, but is still an inspiring story about the risks and rewards of challenging your body in the great outdoors.
    — Matt Crisara, Popular Mechanics, 2 June 2023
  • Meanwhile, Kaavia is watching her device, mostly oblivious to her mother's tall tale.
    — Gabi Thorne, Allure, 21 Jan. 2022
  • And unlike Daisuke Matsuzaka’s gyroball, which proved to be a tall tale, or perhaps just a slider, Senga’s forkball, according to some of the people who have seen it, is a devastating weapon that delivers on the hype.
    — Gary Phillips, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2023
  • For many American viewers, their story will come across as an exuberant anti-colonialist tall tale.
    — Simon Abrams, The New Yorker, 16 Feb. 2023
  • In the tall tale the authors tell, Palestinians make little more than cameo appearances, bearing responsibility for neither their decisions nor their fates.
    — Michael Oren, Foreign Affairs, 31 May 2023
  • Others, like rumors of him stabbing an audience member for taking his photograph, were never verified beyond their tall tale status, but those stories played a role in dramatizing G.I.S.M.’s mystique abroad.
    — Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 2 Sep. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tall tale/story.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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