story1

Syllabification: (sto·ry)

Pronunciation: /ˈstôrē/

Definition of story

1an account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment:an adventure story I’m going to tell you a story
a plot or story line:the novel has a good story
a report of an item of news in a newspaper, magazine, or news broadcast:stories in the local papers
a piece of gossip; a rumor:there have been lots of stories going around, as you can imagine
informal a false statement or explanation; a lie:Ellie never told stories—she had always believed in the truth

2an account of past events in someone’s life or in the evolution of something:the story of modern farming the film is based on a true story
a particular person’s representation of the facts of a matter, especially as given in self-defense:during police interviews, Harper changed his story
[in singular] a situation viewed in terms of the information known about it or its similarity to another:having such information is useful, but it is not the whole story many children with leukemia now survive—twenty years ago it was a very different story

Phrases

but that's another story: informal used after raising a matter to indicate that one does not want to expand on it for now.
end of story: informal used to emphasize that there is nothing to add on a matter just mentioned:Men don’t cry in public. End of story
it's a long story: informal used to indicate that, for now, one does not want to talk about something that is too involved or painful.
it's (or that's) the story of one's life: informal used to lament the fact that a particular misfortune has happened too often in one’s experience:“It’s the story of my life,” my mother would say when she returned home from a sale empty-handed
the same old story: used to indicate that a particular bad situation is tediously familiar:are we not faced with the same old story of a badly managed project?
the story goes: it is said or rumored:the story goes that he’s fallen out with his friends
to make (or British cut) a long story short: used to end an account of events quickly:to make a long story short, I married Stephen

Middle English (denoting a historical account or representation): shortening of Anglo-Norman French estorie, from Latin historia (see history)

Definition of story in the British & World English dictionary