Idiom
tall tale
Meaning
A tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated; also, an account of questionable veracity; a lie, an untruth.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He told a tall tale about catching a giant fish.”
“Nobody believes his tall tale about winning the lottery twice.”
“She tells a tall tale whenever she arrives late for work.”
“The children listened with wide eyes as their grandfather spun a tall tale about his adventures in the jungle.”
“My coworker often tells a tall tale about meeting famous actors to make his weekend sound more exciting than it actually was.”
“The hiker shared a tall tale about escaping a hungry bear by climbing a tree that was only three feet high.”
“You should take his stories with a grain of salt because he loves to spin a tall tale to impress new people.”
“Despite his reputation for spinning a tall tale whenever he felt cornered, the witness insisted that his account of the evening was entirely accurate.”
Examples
simple
“He told a tall tale about catching a giant fish.”
“Nobody believes his tall tale about winning the lottery twice.”
“She tells a tall tale whenever she arrives late for work.”
contextual
“The children listened with wide eyes as their grandfather spun a tall tale about his adventures in the jungle.”
“My coworker often tells a tall tale about meeting famous actors to make his weekend sound more exciting than it actually was.”
“The hiker shared a tall tale about escaping a hungry bear by climbing a tree that was only three feet high.”
“You should take his stories with a grain of salt because he loves to spin a tall tale to impress new people.”
complex
“Despite his reputation for spinning a tall tale whenever he felt cornered, the witness insisted that his account of the evening was entirely accurate.”
Origin
From the adjective *tall*, in its specific sense of exaggerated, and the noun *tale*. The compound appeared in the mid-19th century to denote a narrative of improbable proportions.
Key words
Related idioms
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