cautionary tale
Story with warning
A cautionary tale is a story meant to warn against particular behavior or choices by showing their negative consequences.
The phrase often describes real-world examples as much as fictional narratives: His bankruptcy became a cautionary tale about overleveraging.
Something held up as a cautionary tale serves as a warning to others.
Notice of future trouble
- red flagIndicator of danger
- omenProphetic indicator
- premonitionAdvance sense of future events
- alertWarning or watchfulness
harbinger · portent · wake-up call · heads-up · warning sign · alarm · siren · admonitory
Instructive allegorical narrative
- fableMoral tale with animals
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- mythTraditional explanatory tale
legend · Icarus · Cassandra · Pandora · Faustian · Shakespearean · tragic hero · archetype
Sudden loss of power
- ruinComplete destruction or collapse
- tragedyDisastrous or sorrowful event
- hubrisRuinous excessive confidence
- nemesisPersistent source of ruin
comeuppance · fate · doom · undoing · destruction · demise · catastrophe · repercussion
Unit of teaching
- ethicsStudy of right conduct
- wisdomGood judgment from experience
- hubrisRuinous excessive confidence
- greedExcessive desire for wealth
temptation · folly · recklessness · overreach · arrogance · vanity · ambition · corruption
forewarning
Notice of future trouble
- red flagIndicator of danger
- omenProphetic indicator
- premonitionAdvance sense of future events
alert · harbinger · portent · wake-up call · heads-up · warning sign · alarm · siren · admonitory · prophetic
parable
Instructive allegorical narrative
- fableMoral tale with animals
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
myth · legend · Icarus · Cassandra · Pandora · Faustian · Shakespearean · tragic hero · archetype · storytelling
downfall
Sudden loss of power
- ruinComplete destruction or collapse
- tragedyDisastrous or sorrowful event
- hubrisRuinous excessive confidence
nemesis · comeuppance · fate · doom · undoing · destruction · demise · catastrophe · repercussion · fallout
lesson
Unit of teaching
greed · temptation · folly · recklessness · overreach · arrogance · vanity · ambition · corruption · transgression
- storytellingstorytelling, story, narrative, narrator, storyteller
- talesfunny stories, short story, yarns, folktale, ghost story
- folklorefairytales, folktales, folktale, legends, legend
- folktalesfolktales, animal fables, folktale, moral fables, fable
- mythsmyth, legend, fable, creation myth, origin story
- fablesfable, Aesop, Aesop's fables, Aesop fables, tortoise and hare
cautionary talesuccess story
Narrative of achievement
exemplar · how-to guide · hero's journey · fairy tale ending · happily ever after
cautionary taleredemption story
Narrative of moral recovery
comeback story · triumph over adversity · underdog story · victory lap · Cinderella story
tale, caution, tales, precaution, cautioned, cautions, cautionary, precautions, precautionary