Bedtime story
Tale and bedtime story are semantically related. In some cases you can use "Tale" instead a noun phrase "Bedtime story".
Tale
Tale noun - A work with imaginary characters and events that is shorter and usually less complex than a novel.
Usage example: the oft-told tale of Sleeping Beauty
Bedtime story and tale are semantically related. You can use "Bedtime story" instead a noun "Tale".
Mutual synonyms
Both terms in one sentence
- Finally lampshaded when, in The Power of Three, the Doctor remembers the omnicidal Shakri from a kid's tale and Amy calls them a "seriously weird bedtime story."
Source: Ironic Nursery Tune -
Despite this, Patrick narrates the tale like a bedtime story, and originally told it as an attempt to cheer up Spongebob.
Source: Literature / The Ugly Barnacle -
Bowdlerize: An in-universe example: Helen and Edward tell Johnny a fairy-tale version of their first meeting as a bedtime story.
Source: Film / Blonde Venus
Cite this Source
Tale and Bedtime story. (2017). Retrieved 2026, August 10, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/bedtime_story/tale
Bedtime story & Tale. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/bedtime_story/tale>.
Tale or Bedtime story. 2017. Accessed August 10, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/bedtime_story/tale.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "bedtime story" and "tale" have occurred on timeline