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1. A short moral story (often with animal characters)
   - fable, parable, apologue
    
2. A visible symbol representing an abstract idea
   - emblem
    
3. An expressive style that uses fictional characters and events to describe some subject by suggestive resemblances; an extended metaphor

Derived forms: allegories

See also: allegorical, allegorize

Type of: expressive style, story, style, symbol, symbolic representation, symbolisation [Brit], symbolization

Encyclopedia: Allegory