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sto·ry¹

(stôrē)

n. pl. sto·ries

1. An account or recital of an event or a series of events, either true or fictitious, as:

a. An account or report regarding the facts of an event or group of events: The witness changed her story under questioning.

b. An anecdote: came back from the trip with some good stories.

c. A lie: told us a story about the dog eating the cookies.

a. A usually fictional prose or verse narrative intended to interest or amuse the hearer or reader; a tale.

b. A short story.

3. The plot of a narrative or dramatic work.

4. A news article or broadcast.

5. Something viewed as or providing material for a literary or journalistic treatment: "He was colorful, he was charismatic, he was controversial, he was a good story" (Terry Ann Knopf).

6. The background information regarding something: What's the story on these unpaid bills?

7. Romantic legend or tradition: a hero known to us in story.

tr.v. sto·ried, sto·ry·ing, sto·ries

1. To decorate with scenes representing historical or legendary events.

2. Archaic To tell as a story.

[Middle English storie, from Old French estorie, estoire, from Latin historia; see HISTORY.]

sto·ry²

(stôrē)

n. pl. sto·ries

1. A complete horizontal division of a building, constituting the area between two adjacent floors.

2. The set of rooms on the same floor of a building.

[Middle English storie, story, from Medieval Latin historia, picture, story (probably from painted windows or sculpture on the front of buildings), from Latin, history; see HISTORY.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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