: a characteristically anonymous, timeless, and placeless tale circulated orally among a people
Examples of folktale in a Sentence
West African folktales that continue to be passed from generation to generation through storytelling.
Recent Examples on the Web
A lot of the folktales referenced in Rabbit Trap are drawn from this one text from 1880, called British Goblins, from an American anthropologist called Wirt Sikes, who traveled through Wales, collected stories and sightings of goblins and fairies.
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Damon Wise, Deadline, 31 Jan. 2025
Her songs involve dark folktales, animal encounters, and bad uncles.
—Emma Alpern, Vulture, 28 Jan. 2025
The Swimming Pool What folktale begins with a blacksmith in Michigan and ends with a bullfrog in New Jersey?
—John McPhee, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
Canada and the United States Indigenous tribes across what is now Canada and the northern United States (including Alaska) have myriad folktales surrounding the celestial dance.
—Bailey Berg, AFAR Media, 30 Dec. 2024
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Damon Wise, Deadline, 31 Jan. 2025
Her songs involve dark folktales, animal encounters, and bad uncles.
—Emma Alpern, Vulture, 28 Jan. 2025
The Swimming Pool What folktale begins with a blacksmith in Michigan and ends with a bullfrog in New Jersey?
—John McPhee, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
Canada and the United States Indigenous tribes across what is now Canada and the northern United States (including Alaska) have myriad folktales surrounding the celestial dance.
—Bailey Berg, AFAR Media, 30 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for folktale
Dictionary Entries Near folktale
Cite this Entry
“Folktale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/folktale. Accessed 13 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
folktale
noun
folk·tale
-ˌtāl 
: a story made up and handed down by the common people
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