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Sleeping Beauty

American  

noun

  1. 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.

  2. (italics) the fairy tale itself.

  3. (italics) a ballet (1889) by Tchaikovsky.

“Sleeping Beauty” Cultural  

  1. A fairy tale from the collection of Charles Perrault, about a beautiful princess cast into a deep sleep through a jealous fairy's curse. Sleeping Beauty is awakened at last by the kiss of a prince.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Alicia is bringing Aurora to life for the stage adaptation of Sleeping Beauty by Central Theatre in Chatham this festive period.

From BBC • Dec. 30, 2025

Sleeping Beauty Castle, the It’s a Small World facade and even the mountains of Cars Land are now recognizable Southern California landmarks.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 17, 2025

Gurr asks, referring to a Renie Bardeau picture of Disney behind the wheel in the carriage of a car in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 25, 2025

A young Roffman, who was always more Team Snow White than Sleeping Beauty when it came to battles for classic Disney princess dominance, was confused and starstruck.

From Salon • Mar. 29, 2025

Some artists preferred to go the Sleeping Beauty route.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

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.