story
Pluralstories
UK spellingstorey · for a floor of a building
Pluralstories
Formsstories, storying, storied
- 1An account of real or fictional events, including past events, told in spoken or written words.
The novel weaves several stories into one sprawling narrative.
Every good story needs a beginning, a middle, and an end.
UsageUsually tell a story (not
incorrect: say a story); a book tells the story of someone. - 2A sequence of events or a situation of the kind that might be related in an account.
There's more to this accident than the police report tells; the full story involves years of neglect.
Photographs from that summer each carry their own story.
UsageSet phrases: the story behind something, the full story, same story, and what's the story? (what is happening).
Similarnarrative
- 3Any of the levels or floors that make up a building or ship, one above another.
The fire started on the second story and quickly spread to the roof.
The new office tower rises forty stories above the river.
UsageBefore a noun, singular and hyphenated: a two-story house. The British spelling is storey, plural storeys.
Less common meanings
- 4A deliberate falsehood; a lie or invented account presented as truth.
She gave the officer a story about losing her ticket.
Spare me the stories and tell me what really happened.
UsageCommon in make up a story and tell stories, especially of a child not telling the truth.
Similarlie, fib, fabrication, falsehood, invention
- 5A chronological collection of pictures or short videos that a user publishes on an app or website, typically available only for a short period.
She added the concert clips to her story before the night ended.
Brands often use stories to share quick promotions that vanish by morning.
UsagePeople post a story, add clips to their story, or view someone's story.
Note
Social media turned the noun into a product feature: Snapchat stories, Instagram Stories. When it names a platform's feature, it often takes a capital, as in Hannah Jane Parkinson's 2016 complaint about Instagram Stories and their "fleetingness." The vanishing is the point.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Snapchat uses Stories as a product feature for temporary collections of posts. sec.gov
- Instagram introduced a feature named Instagram Stories. about.fb.com
- Hannah Jane Parkinson complained about Instagram Stories’ “fleetingness” in 2016. theguardian.com
- 6To post a story, a chronological set of pictures or short videos, on an app or website.
He stories from the front row of every concert, so his followers see the whole show.
They told everyone to story the announcement for more reach.
Similarpost
Note
A newer verb made from the social-media noun, and it works with or without an object: you can story a concert, or simply story from the front row. Josh Duboff wrote in 2018 that Natalie Portman was not yet at ease with "double-taps and geotags and storying."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The newer social-media verb is formed from the corresponding noun, as its definition and dated examples indicate. en.wiktionary.org
- The social-media verb can take an object or occur without one. en.wiktionary.org
- Josh Duboff wrote the article in 2018. vanityfair.com
- Duboff described Natalie Portman as not yet comfortable with the quoted social-media activities. vanityfair.com
- 7To relate or narrate something in the form of a story.
It is storied of the brazen colossus in Rhodes, that it was seventy cubits high.
1648, John Wilkins, Mathematical MagickHow worthy he is I will leave to appear hereafter, rather than story him in his own hearing.
1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”Similarnarrate, recount, relate, tell, chronicle
Note
An old, literary verb that takes a direct object; its past form is storied. In Cymbeline, Shakespeare's speaker would rather not "story him in his own hearing." John Wilkins's Mathematical Magick (1648) reports that it is "storied" of the brazen colossus of Rhodes that it stood seventy cubits high. Galen Strawson's 2004 review of Jerome Bruner revives storying for building a self through narrative.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
- The narrating verb is old and appears transitively in literary writing. shakespeare.mit.edu
- Its past form is storied. en.wiktionary.org
- In Shakespeare's Cymbeline, Philario speaks the quoted words about Posthumus. shakespeare.mit.edu
- John Wilkins wrote Mathematical Magick, first published in 1648. en.wikipedia.org
- Wilkins's first-edition title page bears the date 1648. archive.org
- The reported location and height are correct, but the first edition says “’Tis storied also of”, not “it is storied of”. archive.org
- Strawson's 2004 Bruner review uses storying for narrative self-construction. theguardian.com
- 8A soap opera, especially a long-running daytime television serial.
My aunt schedules her whole afternoon around her stories.
My aunt's favorite story has run for decades, and she will not answer the phone while it's on.
UsageUsually plural with a possessive: her stories, Grandma's stories.
Similarserial
Note
Stephen King's Needful Things (1991) has a TV "tuned to one of the stories," which is how the word sounds in use. It is usually plural, as in her stories, and is now heard mostly from older speakers.
- 9A casual greeting used in Dublin, shortened from "what's the story?"
Story, Dec? You're looking well these days.
The lads greeted each other with a quick "Story?" outside the chipper.
UsageAnswer with a greeting in return, not news, much as you would answer how are you?
Note
A Dublin greeting, clipped from what's the story?, the same question that asks what is going on in the "situation" sense. Colin Murphy and Donal O'Dea (2012) warn non-Irish listeners not to explain their life story in reply, and advise them to respond in kind.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The Dublin greeting story is shortened from what's the story? en.wiktionary.org
- Murphy and O'Dea advise non-Irish listeners against answering literally and recommend responding in kind. en.wiktionary.org
- 10Short for user story: in software development, a short description of a feature from the user's point of view, saying who wants it and why.
- 11In typography, one of the vertically stacked levels found in certain letters, such as a and g.
- 12A building, especially a large or imposing one.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Ancient Greek historia ("learning through research") passed into Latin as historia. Anglo-Norman estorie came from it, and Middle English storie followed. History and storey are doublets.
Shortened from the Irish greeting "What's the story?"
From Middle English story, from Medieval Latin historia ("narrative, picture"), probably after the painted or carved scenes along the upper levels of medieval buildings. It shares its origin with story ("tale") and history.