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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.

A craftsperson applies paint to the stone facade of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2026

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

Animals emerge from hibernation, like Sleeping Beauty woken from her death-like 100-year sleep.

From Salon • Apr. 20, 2025

Ulmer, via his company Mousetrappe Media, collaborated with Disney on the experience, designing projection mapping that could be seen on Sleeping Beauty Castle and elsewhere.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2025

I have theater-sized posters from the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s productions of Romeo and Juliet and The Sleeping Beauty.

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day

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.