: characteristic of or suitable to a fairy tale
especially
: marked by seemingly unreal beauty, perfection, luck, or happiness
led a fairy-tale life
a store clerk's fairy-tale romance
1
a
: a story (as for children) involving fantastic forces and beings (such as fairies, wizards, and goblins)
enjoyed the fairy tale "The Little Mermaid"
called also fairy story
b
: a story in which improbable events lead to a happy ending
those balletic fairy tales in which a new corps member steps in for an injured principal at the last minute and delivers a splendid performance—
Margaret Willis
Margaret Willis2
: a made-up story usually designed to mislead
an old-fashioned fairy tale depicting revolutionists as demigods—Jonathan Zimmerman
Jonathan ZimmermanSynonyms
Examples of fairy-tale in a Sentence
Noun
the fairy tale about the sleeping princess
Everything he told us about his happy marriage was just a fairy tale.
Recent Examples on the WebJeanna Smialek, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2024
Tripadvisor recently featured 10 spectacular, open-to-the-public castles in Europe, Japan and here in California as the best places to conjure fairy-tale dreams.
—Jackie Burrell, The Mercury News, 1 Apr. 2024
Her films, although typically set in or near the present day, are suffused with an almost primordial air of fairy-tale enchantment.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2024
The former Kate Middleton, who married William in a fairy-tale wedding in 2011, has boosted the popularity and appeal of the British monarchy worldwide more than any royal since Princess Diana.
—arkansasonline.com, 22 Mar. 2024
The perfectly orchestrated fairy-tale grandeur (combined with copious media coverage) has fueled a longstanding fascination with the royals.
—Sydney Lake, Fortune, 13 Mar. 2024
The City of Angels is known for glitz and glamour, palm trees, celebrity sightings, and fairy-tale fantasies.
—Melanie Stetson Freeman, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Feb. 2024
Reiner lives in their heads rent-free despite his immoral and immature mangling of fairy-tale morality.
—Armond White, National Review, 21 Feb. 2024
Lopez’s new album of competent pop R&B presents Affleck’s reemergence in her life as a fairy-tale culmination to her story, but the movie is more about interior milestones: loving oneself, healing one’s inner child, and other psychoanalytical concepts.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 16 Feb. 2024
Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 29 Apr. 2024
In Picture a day like this, the child’s death is not explained: as in a fairy tale, the bald fact of loss is announced at the outset and never accounted for.
—Matthew Aucoin, The New York Review of Books, 15 Feb. 2024
As Lady Diana Spencer climbed the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London on July 29, 1981, to marry Prince Charles, her majestic wedding dress with its 25-foot train brought a royal fairy tale to life.
—Simon Perry, Peoplemag, 3 Apr. 2024
Less overtly a horror movie than Nosferatu, F.W. Murnau’s final German film rides the line between fantasy and horror, crafting fantastical visuals and layering them on top of a dark fairy tale.
—Katie Rife, EW.com, 12 Mar. 2024
Born in Nigeria in 1984 and raised in London, she is best known for spinning classical fairy tales into new forms, not to clumsily revise their politics in the way of the who-asked-for-this Disney reboots, but to use make-believe to defamiliarize all that we have been made to believe.
—Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2024
There is a beauty to it, but there’s a rawness to it as well, and there is a sort of dark fairy tale feel to it.
—Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Feb. 2024
What the series share is a tone that splits the difference between prestige costume drama, high melodrama, and fairy tale (the Elizabeths come from a family that practices magic).
—Judy Berman, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
The Butterfly House is like a greenhouse out of a fairy tale, brimming with countless butterflies.
—Vogue, 3 Apr. 2024
Adjective
America seemed headed for an economic fairy-tale ending in late 2023.
—Jeanna Smialek, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2024
Tripadvisor recently featured 10 spectacular, open-to-the-public castles in Europe, Japan and here in California as the best places to conjure fairy-tale dreams.
—Jackie Burrell, The Mercury News, 1 Apr. 2024
Her films, although typically set in or near the present day, are suffused with an almost primordial air of fairy-tale enchantment.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2024
The former Kate Middleton, who married William in a fairy-tale wedding in 2011, has boosted the popularity and appeal of the British monarchy worldwide more than any royal since Princess Diana.
—arkansasonline.com, 22 Mar. 2024
The perfectly orchestrated fairy-tale grandeur (combined with copious media coverage) has fueled a longstanding fascination with the royals.
—Sydney Lake, Fortune, 13 Mar. 2024
The City of Angels is known for glitz and glamour, palm trees, celebrity sightings, and fairy-tale fantasies.
—Melanie Stetson Freeman, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Feb. 2024
Reiner lives in their heads rent-free despite his immoral and immature mangling of fairy-tale morality.
—Armond White, National Review, 21 Feb. 2024
Lopez’s new album of competent pop R&B presents Affleck’s reemergence in her life as a fairy-tale culmination to her story, but the movie is more about interior milestones: loving oneself, healing one’s inner child, and other psychoanalytical concepts.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 16 Feb. 2024
Noun
The fairy tale that the human race has evolved beyond such barbarism was shattered (again) last week when reports surfaced that three mass burial sites had been unearthed in Gaza.
—Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 29 Apr. 2024
In Picture a day like this, the child’s death is not explained: as in a fairy tale, the bald fact of loss is announced at the outset and never accounted for.
—Matthew Aucoin, The New York Review of Books, 15 Feb. 2024
As Lady Diana Spencer climbed the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London on July 29, 1981, to marry Prince Charles, her majestic wedding dress with its 25-foot train brought a royal fairy tale to life.
—Simon Perry, Peoplemag, 3 Apr. 2024
Less overtly a horror movie than Nosferatu, F.W. Murnau’s final German film rides the line between fantasy and horror, crafting fantastical visuals and layering them on top of a dark fairy tale.
—Katie Rife, EW.com, 12 Mar. 2024
Born in Nigeria in 1984 and raised in London, she is best known for spinning classical fairy tales into new forms, not to clumsily revise their politics in the way of the who-asked-for-this Disney reboots, but to use make-believe to defamiliarize all that we have been made to believe.
—Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2024
There is a beauty to it, but there’s a rawness to it as well, and there is a sort of dark fairy tale feel to it.
—Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Feb. 2024
What the series share is a tone that splits the difference between prestige costume drama, high melodrama, and fairy tale (the Elizabeths come from a family that practices magic).
—Judy Berman, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
The Butterfly House is like a greenhouse out of a fairy tale, brimming with countless butterflies.
—Vogue, 3 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fairy-tale.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near fairy-tale
Cite this Entry
“Fairy-tale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fairy-tale. Accessed 3 May. 2024.
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