sob story

noun

1. an excessively sentimental human-interest story.
2. an alibi or excuse, especially one designed to arouse sympathy:

   Instead of a raise, the boss gave us another sob story about her expenses.

sob story

noun

1. a tale of personal distress intended to arouse sympathy, esp one offered as an excuse or apology

Word History and Origins

Origin of sob story¹

First recorded in 1915–20

Idioms and Phrases

A tale of personal hardship, true or invented, that is intended to arouse pity in the listener. For example, She always came up with some sob story to excuse her absences, but no one believed her . [Early 1900s]

Example Sentences

What journalists call a 'sob story,' or is it meant to be humorous?

From Project Gutenberg

It's about a feller vot takes anodder feller's place and gits his head cut off; and say, dere's a sob story in it vot's a vunder.

From Project Gutenberg

As I said I didn't start out to tell a sob story, but in this business we see quite a few cases like that.

From Project Gutenberg

Something about the case caught a tabloid's attention and it was played up as a human interest sob story.

From Project Gutenberg