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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 glimpse of Sleeping Beauty Castle under construction.

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

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

Disney’s first live-action Maleficent film, starring Jolie as the evil fairy who curses Sleeping Beauty, earned $759.9 million worldwide in its 2014 release, while “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” grossed $491.7 million globally five years later.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 21, 2024

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.