a beautiful princess, the heroine of a popular fairy tale, awakened from a charmed sleep by the kiss of the prince who is her true love.
(italics) the fairy tale itself.
(italics) a ballet (1889) by Tchaikovsky.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A world premiere by Gregory Spears casts a veil of dream-like haunting over the story of Sleeping Beauty.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 26, 2026
But within a matter of years, he is appearing on stage in Sleeping Beauty.
From BBC • Dec. 17, 2025
Fanning: I was in “Maleficent” and I played Sleeping Beauty, so like Disney princess in pink.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 16, 2025
Animals emerge from hibernation, like Sleeping Beauty woken from her death-like 100-year sleep.
From Salon • Apr. 20, 2025
To cope, I pretended I was destined for a different life, just like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, the Little Princess and, of course, Alice.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
