Anecdote
noun
A short, interesting or funny story about a real event or person.
She told us an anecdote about her time as a police officer.
Often appears as...
- share an anecdote
- tell an anecdote
noun
A short, interesting or funny story about a real event or person.
She told us an anecdote about her time as a police officer.
Often appears as...
- share an anecdote
- tell an anecdote
Definition 1 of 1
Pro Tip 1/3Personal Touch
An anecdote often adds a personal touch by sharing unique experiences.
During the interview, he enriched his answers with an anecdote from his childhood.
Pro Tip 2/3Conversation Starter
An anecdote can serve as a great way to begin a talk or speech, engaging listeners right away.
To break the ice, she started with an anecdote about her first day at work.
Pro Tip 3/3Keep It Brief
Anecdotes should be short and to the point to maintain the audience's interest.
His anecdote was so brief yet so amusing that everyone burst into laughter.
Pro Tip 1/3Personal Touch
An anecdote often adds a personal touch by sharing unique experiences.
During the interview, he enriched his answers with an anecdote from his childhood.
Pro Tip 2/3Conversation Starter
An anecdote can serve as a great way to begin a talk or speech, engaging listeners right away.
To break the ice, she started with an anecdote about her first day at work.
Pro Tip 3/3Keep It Brief
Anecdotes should be short and to the point to maintain the audience's interest.
His anecdote was so brief yet so amusing that everyone burst into laughter.
Pro Tip 1/3Personal Touch
An anecdote often adds a personal touch by sharing unique experiences.
During the interview, he enriched his answers with an anecdote from his childhood.
Pro Tip 2/3Conversation Starter
An anecdote can serve as a great way to begin a talk or speech, engaging listeners right away.
To break the ice, she started with an anecdote about her first day at work.
Pro Tip 3/3Keep It Brief
Anecdotes should be short and to the point to maintain the audience's interest.
His anecdote was so brief yet so amusing that everyone burst into laughter.
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Video examples
Safari Live - Day 194 PIPE...
out towards Tandy and her cub at sunset please talk to us using the hash tags for a live on track otherwise you may use the chat stream on YouTube to ask us questions send us your comments you may insult us if you wish to can't promise that I'll acknowledge your insults but you can certainly try and send us your amusing anecdotes that would also be quite good ok
Video examples
What's the definition of...
Made-up nonsense jibberish is frequently hilarious. For instance, florp -- hysterical! And plenty of truths aren't funny. Two plus two truly equals four, but I'm not laughing just because that's the case. You can tell a true anecdote, but your date may not laugh. So, why are some untruths and only some truths funny?
Video examples
America’s most just...
an index yet but you have criterion factors and you've been thinking about this for a couple of years how has this already influenced your investments if it has well I think the most interesting anecdote is about a year ago the co-chair of my company said you know if you're going to be out front on this
Video examples
Feats of memory anyone...
to remind you of this funny anecdote you want to tell. And you'd go into your kitchen, and the fourth topic you were going to talk about was this strange journey that you went on for a year, and you'd have some friends to help you remember that. This is how Roman orators memorized their speeches --
Video examples
Three ideas. Three...
like the letters I used to write to my grandma when I first started university, letters I filled with funny stories and anecdotes that I embellished for her amusement. And I remembered how I couldn't articulate the anxiety and fear that filled me as I tried to carve my tiny little life
Video examples
Capturing authentic...
identifying what is compelling from what is chatter? You ask surprising questions. To achieve the complicated, fragile human connection, you regard the stories of every subject as sacred. Realize that an anecdote is oxygen that breathes life into a grey story of exposition,
Video examples
Zen kōans: Unsolvable...
such as living without physical or mental attachments, avoiding binary thinking, and realizing one’s true “Buddha-nature." But by framing those lessons as illogical anecdotes, they became tests to help practicing monks learn to live with ambiguity and paradox.
Video examples
A shark-deterrent...
can sometimes be lying right out in the open for us to discover, in the evolved, accumulated body of human anecdote, for example, or in the time-tested adaptations that we observe in the natural world around us. Science starts with observation,
Video examples
Sheryl WuDunn: Our...
research shows that there are very few things in life that can actually elevate your level of happiness. One of those things is contributing to a cause larger than yourself. And the second thing, it's an anecdote that I'll leave you with.
Video examples
Srdja Popovic: How to...
Good afternoon, I'm proud to be here at TEDxKrakow. I'll try to speak a little bit today about a phenomenon which can, and actually is changing the world, and whose name is people power. I'll start with an anecdote,
Video examples
Safari Live - Day 194 PIPE...
out towards Tandy and her cub at sunset please talk to us using the hash tags for a live on track otherwise you may use the chat stream on YouTube to ask us questions send us your comments you may insult us if you wish to can't promise that I'll acknowledge your insults but you can certainly try and send us your amusing anecdotes that would also be quite good ok
Video examples
What's the definition of...
Made-up nonsense jibberish is frequently hilarious. For instance, florp -- hysterical! And plenty of truths aren't funny. Two plus two truly equals four, but I'm not laughing just because that's the case. You can tell a true anecdote, but your date may not laugh. So, why are some untruths and only some truths funny?
Video examples
America’s most just...
an index yet but you have criterion factors and you've been thinking about this for a couple of years how has this already influenced your investments if it has well I think the most interesting anecdote is about a year ago the co-chair of my company said you know if you're going to be out front on this
Video examples
Feats of memory anyone...
to remind you of this funny anecdote you want to tell. And you'd go into your kitchen, and the fourth topic you were going to talk about was this strange journey that you went on for a year, and you'd have some friends to help you remember that. This is how Roman orators memorized their speeches --
Video examples
Three ideas. Three...
like the letters I used to write to my grandma when I first started university, letters I filled with funny stories and anecdotes that I embellished for her amusement. And I remembered how I couldn't articulate the anxiety and fear that filled me as I tried to carve my tiny little life
Video examples
Capturing authentic...
identifying what is compelling from what is chatter? You ask surprising questions. To achieve the complicated, fragile human connection, you regard the stories of every subject as sacred. Realize that an anecdote is oxygen that breathes life into a grey story of exposition,
Video examples
Zen kōans: Unsolvable...
such as living without physical or mental attachments, avoiding binary thinking, and realizing one’s true “Buddha-nature." But by framing those lessons as illogical anecdotes, they became tests to help practicing monks learn to live with ambiguity and paradox.
Video examples
A shark-deterrent...
can sometimes be lying right out in the open for us to discover, in the evolved, accumulated body of human anecdote, for example, or in the time-tested adaptations that we observe in the natural world around us. Science starts with observation,
Video examples
Sheryl WuDunn: Our...
research shows that there are very few things in life that can actually elevate your level of happiness. One of those things is contributing to a cause larger than yourself. And the second thing, it's an anecdote that I'll leave you with.
Video examples
Srdja Popovic: How to...
Good afternoon, I'm proud to be here at TEDxKrakow. I'll try to speak a little bit today about a phenomenon which can, and actually is changing the world, and whose name is people power. I'll start with an anecdote,
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Mario Cuomo
American Politician
A lot of my stories about the old days, they're delicious and funny. But every time I recall the early days, it's painful. With every anecdote, it's painful because you're summoning up the terribly, terribly difficult life of my parents. And it's painful because I didn't realize at the time how hard it was for them.
Quote examples
Dan Chaon
American Writer
I'm certainly very influenced by what you would call 'contemporary headline horror,' stuff that is true crime or for one reason or another catches our attention in the media, those strange cases that we end up obsessing about. I'm always influenced by weird anecdotes and news.
Quote examples
Al Yankovic
American Comedian
I write and write and write, and then I edit it down to the parts that I think are amusing, or that help the storyline, or I'll write a notebook full of ideas of anecdotes or story points, and then I'll try and arrange them in a way that they would tell a semi-cohesive story.
Quote examples
Danny Huston
American Actor
Why should I ever get fed up talking about my father? He was a brilliant, colorful man who left us with thousands of memories. Most people remember his films, but I've got anecdotes and advice and episodes of real life tucked away inside my head.
Quote examples
Rick Riordan
American Author
I can't actually wrap my mind around it easily - I can't really visualize what 2 million books looks like... So I try to keep it real for myself by focusing on individual anecdotes of how my books have helped kids learn to love reading.
Quote examples
Jane Lindskold
American Writer
Coincidence is a recognized element in 'real life.' All of us have anecdotes about those times when, by the merest coincidence, we avoided some disaster or stumbled onto some wonderful experience.
Quote examples
Anna Paquin
Canadian Actress
Like most people my age, my job is the main focus of my life. I don't have some kind of jet-setting fabulous lifestyle where I'm constantly in situations to acquire amazing anecdotes, that's it.
Quote examples
Peter Milligan
British Writer
With 'Hollow Circus,' I used a family story that haunted me as a kid, one of those anecdotes about a family member that would rarely be spoken of in front of the children.
Quote examples
Rajkumar Hirani
Indian Director
Films have to find a way to compress many anecdotes into one, or many events into one. Otherwise there is no way to tell it in two and a half hours.
Quote examples
Olga Tokarczuk
Polish Writer
The world is a fabric we weave daily on the great looms of information, discussions, films, books, gossip, little anecdotes.
Quote examples
Mario Cuomo
American Politician
A lot of my stories about the old days, they're delicious and funny. But every time I recall the early days, it's painful. With every anecdote, it's painful because you're summoning up the terribly, terribly difficult life of my parents. And it's painful because I didn't realize at the time how hard it was for them.
Quote examples
Dan Chaon
American Writer
I'm certainly very influenced by what you would call 'contemporary headline horror,' stuff that is true crime or for one reason or another catches our attention in the media, those strange cases that we end up obsessing about. I'm always influenced by weird anecdotes and news.
Quote examples
Al Yankovic
American Comedian
I write and write and write, and then I edit it down to the parts that I think are amusing, or that help the storyline, or I'll write a notebook full of ideas of anecdotes or story points, and then I'll try and arrange them in a way that they would tell a semi-cohesive story.
Quote examples
Danny Huston
American Actor
Why should I ever get fed up talking about my father? He was a brilliant, colorful man who left us with thousands of memories. Most people remember his films, but I've got anecdotes and advice and episodes of real life tucked away inside my head.
Quote examples
Rick Riordan
American Author
I can't actually wrap my mind around it easily - I can't really visualize what 2 million books looks like... So I try to keep it real for myself by focusing on individual anecdotes of how my books have helped kids learn to love reading.
Quote examples
Jane Lindskold
American Writer
Coincidence is a recognized element in 'real life.' All of us have anecdotes about those times when, by the merest coincidence, we avoided some disaster or stumbled onto some wonderful experience.
Quote examples
Anna Paquin
Canadian Actress
Like most people my age, my job is the main focus of my life. I don't have some kind of jet-setting fabulous lifestyle where I'm constantly in situations to acquire amazing anecdotes, that's it.
Quote examples
Peter Milligan
British Writer
With 'Hollow Circus,' I used a family story that haunted me as a kid, one of those anecdotes about a family member that would rarely be spoken of in front of the children.
Quote examples
Rajkumar Hirani
Indian Director
Films have to find a way to compress many anecdotes into one, or many events into one. Otherwise there is no way to tell it in two and a half hours.
Quote examples
Olga Tokarczuk
Polish Writer
The world is a fabric we weave daily on the great looms of information, discussions, films, books, gossip, little anecdotes.
Example 1 of 10
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