Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A prose narrative usually written in Iceland between 1120 and 1400, dealing with the families that first settled Iceland and their descendants, with the histories of the kings of Norway, and with the myths and legends of early Germanic gods and heroes.
- n. A modern prose narrative that resembles a saga.
- n. A long detailed report: recounted the saga of their family problems.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An ancient Scandinavian legend or tradition of considerable length, relating either mythical or historical events; a tale; a history: as, the Völsunga saga; the Knytlinga saga.
Wiktionary
- n. An Old Norse (Icelandic) prose narrative, especially one dealing with family or social histories and legends
- n. Something with the qualities of such a saga; an epic, a long story.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A Scandinavian legend, or heroic or mythic tradition, among the Norsemen and kindred people; a northern European popular historical or religious tale of olden time.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a narrative telling the adventures of a hero or a family; originally (12th to 14th centuries) a story of the families that settled Iceland and their descendants but now any prose narrative that resembles such an account
Etymologies
- From Old Norse saga ("epic tale, story"), from Proto-Germanic *sagōn (“saying, story”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷe-, *skʷē- (“to tell, talk”). Cognate with Old English sagu ("story, tale, statement"), Old High German saga ("an assertion, narrative, sermon, pronouncement"), Icelandic saga ("story, tale, history"). More at saw, say. (Wiktionary)
- Old Norse. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Submit a Comment • Trackback (0) • With so many permutations and mixed motivations, the Palin saga is starting to feel like a Restoration play.”
“Markos linked to, by the way, a rather well-done explanation of the Durbin saga from a conservative blogger who actually gets it.”
“Once we get into the twentieth century, the term saga was chiefly popularised by John Galsworthy, who wrote The Forsyte Saga.”
“In modern publishing, at any rate in the UK, the term saga is generally used to describe a type of fiction aimed principally at women.”
“The term saga also crops up, occasionally, in science fiction, e.g. in relation to E.E.”
“The recent Cadillac/Greymac/Kilderkin saga is a current, rather tortured example of what can happen when governments impose a regime of rent controls.”
“The more I read about this saga is the more I respect Mrs. Sanford.”
“As such the final solution to this saga is a realignment of exchange rates and the rebalancing of trade.”
Forbes: Western Governments' Addiction To Credit And The Rise Of China
“A link to the latest development in his saga is here, courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel”
“Anderson & B. Herbert have their own writing style, and I don't think they are up to Franks 'standard, but then again i am realy curious as to how the saga is about to end.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘saga’.
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Loanwords
Since English is littered with loanwords, everything could conceivably end up here. But there is a distinct feeling associated with these.. maybe they're young additions to the English language; I ...
iceberg, fjord, firth, abbey, abyss, anorak, apartheid, assassin, avalanche, avocado, balaclava, banana and 104 more...
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POL - scandalous (single words only)
cadre, bribery, bashing, backhander, clash, crony, coercion, coterie, chicanery, baksheesh, acolyte, backlash and 256 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Olde Englisc
English words of Anglo-Saxon origin.
onslaught, slain, clove, clave, thrice, nincompoop, scorn, storm, scant, lurk, beneath, atop and 143 more...
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POL - scandalous (words and collocati...
Words and collocations associated with political scandal
blow the whistle, boo, cronyism and rigging, democratic deficit, denigrate, dirty linen, fiasco, finger pointing a..., graft, hidden account, hush money, illicit financing... and 578 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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The Cheese Connoisseur's List of...
Names of cheeses from around the world, blatantly stolen from every source available to me.
"A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman with one eye." - Jean Anthelme Brillat-S...edam, cheddar, jack, monterrey jack, mozzarella, mozzarella di bufala, mozzarella fior d..., mozarella affumicata, scamorza, parmesan, gorgonzola, emmenthal and 256 more...
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jaydrox's list
Mah list!
mediocracy, captivatingly, devastatingly, dazedly, heavenly, flawless, copious, conviction, synoptic, amalgamation, prefatory, precursory and 150 more...
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February 2012
filiopietistic, bifurcate, enclave, wedlock, decadent, unduly, defunct, lapel, tumescent, capitulation, leaden, scintilla and 83 more...
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Paladin
heroic mot-i(c)ons
el cid, paladin, hero, pahlevan, lifesaver, dickens, bellerophon, abydos, ramachandra, arminius, saga, Arpad and 42 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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Favorites
disparage, partisan, cupidity, hokum, tussle, odious, dastardly, overture, plane, chronic, peering, peer and 328 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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elvesoncrack's Words
lachrymose, blustering, fjord, chihuahua, chiffon, catalytic, stile, gefilte, prosh, thwart, ralph, ickle and 379 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for saga.

hernesheir A Danish cheese that is like a cross between blue cheese and Brie; a soft, mild, blue-veined cheese with a moldy natural rind. Jan 19, 2009