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.
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
a story about fairies or other mythical or magical beings, esp one of traditional origin told to children
a highly improbable account
First recorded in 1740–50
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But as “The Theater” reveals, Mariupol is no fairy tale.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026
Wilson says of their immersive storybook escape, which features a delightful hand-painted mural on the walls and tiny lanterns that, when touched, offer a narrated fairy tale.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2026
"It's a bit like the Cinderella fairy tale," says Benjamin Koch from the Institute for Theoretical Physics at TU Wien.
From Science Daily • Mar. 9, 2026
A Goldilocks economy, as the fairy tale goes, is not too fast and not too slow.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 20, 2026
If this were a fairy tale, I would tell you there was something magical about Samar.
From "Wishtree" by Katherine Applegate
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.
