fairy tale
a story, usually for children, about elves, hobgoblins, dragons, fairies, or other magical creatures.
an incredible or misleading statement, account, or belief: His story of being a millionaire is just a fairy tale.
of, relating to, or suggesting a fairy tale: a fairy-tale castle.
idealized or romantic, often to an unrealistic extent: Many people still want to believe in true love and fairy-tale endings.
Origin of fairy tale
1Words Nearby fairy tale
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use fairy tale in a sentence
Today, those stories are effectively fairy tales — stories we tell ourselves to avoid confronting reality.
Caring for the elderly has never been more expensive, exhausting, or invisible | Anne Helen Petersen | August 26, 2021 | VoxFor now, it seems like a fairy tale — the idea that Americans could choose to work or not work based on their desire, rather than the threat of starvation.
We love the idea of debuting this musical — filled with beloved fairy tale characters — at a theater dedicated to the exploration of classic stories reframed for modern audiences.
Cialdini, like a character in some ancient fairy tale, has found himself advising both sides of the bargaining table.
It is often thought that fairy tales live on because they express unchanging truths about the human condition.
What the Rise and Fall of the Cinderella Fairy Tale Means for Real Women Today | Carol Dyhouse | April 19, 2021 | Time
Not that the demonstration had anything to do with this couple, whom Sarah seems to see as a fairy tale come to life.
Were the fairy-tale true it really would shame the affluent west.
The story was a very subversive fairy tale by Roald Dahl, and a fantastic part.
All Eyes on Anjelica Huston: The Legendary Actress on Love, Abuse, and Jack Nicholson | Alex Suskind | November 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTToday, the quaint spectacle of a stage-managed fairy-tale celebration strikes many of us as a load of garbage.
What Republicans Need Right Now Is a Good Internal Fight | James Poulos | November 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIs there more to U.S. involvement overseas than the fairy tale of knights saving fair maidens from dragons?
The tailor of the fairy tale with his "seven at a blow" is not in it with the gunnery Lieutenant of a battleship.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I | Ian HamiltonHe, Bastien-Lepage, painter of the soil, found himself unable to transfer to canvas the enchantment of that land of fairy tale!
Bastien Lepage | Fr. CrastreLife at the Princes country-seat seemed to Tchaikovsky like a fairy tale.
The Life & Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky | Modeste TchaikovskyBut on the night when ended the fairy tale we have seen that a new Sally began springing into life.
Maid Sally | Harriet A. CheeverBy all means read the chapters on The Possibilities of Agriculture: no fairy-tale is more miraculous.
Comrade Kropotkin | Victor Robinson
British Dictionary definitions for fairy tale (1 of 2)
a story about fairies or other mythical or magical beings, esp one of traditional origin told to children
a highly improbable account
British Dictionary definitions for fairy-tale (2 of 2)
of or relating to a fairy tale
resembling a fairy tale, esp in being extremely happy or fortunate: a true story with a fairy-tale ending
highly improbable: he came out with a fairy-tale account of his achievements
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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