noun
1 account of events/people, true or invented
ADJECTIVE
▪ true
▪ plausible
▪ false , made-up
▪
She told the police a false ~ about being attacked.
▪ fictional , real-life
▪ untold
▪ published
▪
his first published short ~
▪ apocryphal
▪ cock and bull , tall ( esp. BrE )
▪
No one would believe such a tall ~.
▪ official
▪
The official ~ was that the singer had broken his arm falling in the shower.
▪ personal
▪ wild
▪ convincing
▪ compelling , dramatic , exciting , fantastic , fascinating , good , great , interesting , intriguing , nice , touching , wonderful
▪ amazing , bizarre , colourful/colorful , crazy ( esp. AmE ), extraordinary , incredible , outrageous , remarkable , strange
▪ inspirational , inspiring
▪ amusing , entertaining , feel-good , funny
▪ epic
▪
the epic ~ of a family's escape from war
▪ complex , elaborate
▪ straightforward
▪ awful , horrific , horrifying , nasty , shocking , terrible , tragic
▪ sorry ( esp. BrE )
▪
His life was a sorry ~ of betrayal and rejection.
▪ depressing , heart-rending , moving , poignant , sad
▪ well-known
▪ familiar
▪
the familiar ~ of a star who turns to drink and drugs
▪ popular
▪
There is one popular ~ in the town of a man-eating cat that lives in the forest.
▪ life , success
▪
She told them her life ~.
▪ coming-of-age , coming-out , rags-to-riches
▪
The movie is the rags-to-riches ~ of a country girl who becomes a famous singer.
▪ hard-luck , sob ( both disapproving )
▪
He was boring people with more of his hard-luck stories.
▪
She gave me some sob ~ about losing her credit cards.
▪ coherent
▪
The movie lacks a coherent ~.
▪ entire , full , whole
▪
I suspected he hadn't told us the whole ~.
▪ short
▪
a collection of short stories
▪ original
▪
The screenplay sticks to the original ~.
▪ back (usually backstory )
▪
The writers have to create backstories for their characters.
▪ children's
▪ classic
▪ bedtime
▪ adventure , Bible , biblical , crime , detective , fairy ( esp. BrE ), ghost , horror , love , spy , etc.
… OF STORIES
▪ collection
▪
a collection of stories by modern writers
VERB + STORY
▪ hear
▪ read (sb)
▪
My dad sometimes read me a ~ at bedtime.
▪ write
▪ narrate , recount , relate , retell , tell (sb)
▪ embellish , embroider
▪ believe
▪
The police didn't believe her ~.
▪ stick to
▪
We must stick to our ~ about the accident.
▪ change
▪
At first he denied everything, but then he changed his ~ and said it was an accident.
▪ share (with sb) , swap
▪
We swapped stories about our worst teachers.
▪ spread
▪ publish
STORY + VERB
▪ circulate , go around , go round ( esp. BrE ), spread
▪
A ~ was going around that the factory was in line for closure.
▪ abound
▪
Stories abound of vandalism and looting.
▪ emerge
▪ begin , open , start
▪
The ~ opens with a man hiding from the police.
▪ progress , unfold
▪
The motives of the hero become clearer as the ~ unfolds.
▪ end
▪ be called sth , be entitled sth , be titled sth ( esp. AmE )
▪ be set in …
▪
The ~ is set in India in the 1930s.
▪ be based on sth
▪ concern sth , involve sth , revolve around sth
▪ contain sth
▪ illustrate sth
▪
This ~ illustrates the dangers of living on credit.
STORY + NOUN
▪ teller (usually storyteller )
▪ telling (usually storytelling )
▪ line (usually storyline )
▪
His novels always have the same basic storyline.
PREPOSITION
▪ according to a/the ~
▪ ~ about
▪
a ~ about time travel
▪ ~ of
▪
the ~ of the Beatles
▪
a ~ of moral redemption
PHRASES
▪ a fragment of a/the ~ , a part of a/the ~
▪
We had difficulty in piecing together the fragments of her ~.
▪ the rest of the ~
▪ but that's another ~
▪
Many years later I returned to Africa—but that's another ~ (= I am not going to talk about it now) .
▪ (that's) a likely ~ ( ironic )
▪
He said he'd met Madonna. A likely ~.
▪ it's a long ~
▪
‘How come you only have one shoe on?’ ‘It's a long ~.’
▪ sb's half of the ~ , sb's side of the ~
▪
The teacher punished me without listening to my side of the ~.
▪ tell a different ~
▪
Antidepressants are widely believed to be effective medications. The data, however, tell a different ~.
▪ the moral of the ~
▪
The moral of this ~ is that you should never take things for granted.
▪ the ~ goes (that … ) (= used to describe what people are saying although it may not be correct)
▪
She never saw him again—or so the ~ goes.
▪ the ~ of my life
▪
Out of work with no money—that's the ~ of my life.
▪ to cut a long ~ short , to make a long ~ short
▪
Anyway, to cut a long ~ short (= not to give all the details) , we had this argument and I haven't seen him since.
▪ a version of a ~
▪
According to Rachel's version of the ~, they threw the key in the river.
2 report in a newspaper, etc.
ADJECTIVE
▪ big , huge ( esp. AmE ), top
▪
The biggest ~ of the day was the signing of the peace agreement.
▪
And now back to our top ~ tonight …
▪ exclusive
▪ breaking ( esp. AmE )
▪
We'll have more on this breaking ~ as developments come in to us.
▪ feature ( AmE )
▪
National Geographic ran a feature ~ on dinosaurs.
▪ main
▪ full
▪
Full ~ on page 3.
▪ scare
▪
scare stories about the harmful effects of the vaccination
▪ inside
▪
The magazine gives the inside ~ of life in a rock band.
▪ sensational
▪ lurid , sordid
▪
lurid stories of politicians' sexual adventures
▪ cover , front-page , lead
▪
The magazine chose the peace process as its cover ~.
▪ news
▪ political
▪ media , newspaper , wire ( esp. AmE )
VERB + STORY
▪ file , write
▪
More than one correspondent filed a ~ about the incident.
▪ carry , cover , print , publish , report , run
▪
Every newspaper carried the ~.
▪
He's covering the ~ in Gaza for CNN.
▪ follow
▪
We will continue to follow this ~ and bring you the latest developments.
▪ break ( esp. AmE )
▪
The New York Times broke the ~ and others picked it up.
STORY + VERB
▪ break ( esp. AmE )
▪
The ~ broke in January.
PREPOSITION
▪ ~ about , ~ of
▪
the ~ of his arrest
3 ( AmE ) ⇨ See ↑ storey