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fairy-tale

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adjective \ ˈfer-ē-ˌtāl \

Definition of fairy-tale

: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

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First Known Use of fairy-tale

1904

fairy tale

noun

Definition of fairy tale

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
2 :a made-up story usually designed to mislead
  • an old-fashioned fairy tale depicting revolutionists as demigods
  • —Jonathan Zimmerman

See fairy tale defined for English-language learners

See fairy tale defined for kids

Examples of fairy tale in a Sentence

  1. the fairy tale about the sleeping princess

  2. Everything he told us about his happy marriage was just a fairy tale.

First Known Use of fairy tale

1635

fairy tale Synonyms

Synonyms
fable, fabrication, lie, falsehood, falsity, fib, mendacity, prevarication, story, tale, taradiddle (or tarradiddle), untruth, whopper
Antonyms
truth
Related Words
distortion, exaggeration, half-truth; ambiguity, equivocation, obliquity; defamation, libel, slander; perjury; bluff, fiction, pose, pretense (or pretence); humbug, jive, nonsense; canard, fallacy, misconception, myth; falsification, misinformation, misreport, misrepresentation, misstatement; deceit, deceitfulness, dishonesty, duplicity, fraudulence
Near Antonyms
fact, truism, verity; honesty, truthfulness, veracity; authentication, confirmation, substantiation, validation, verification

FAIRY-TALE Defined for English Language Learners

fairy tale

noun

Definition of fairy tale for English Language Learners

  • : a simple children's story about magical creatures

  • : a false story that is meant to trick people

FAIRY-TALE Defined for Kids

fairy tale

noun

Definition of fairy tale for Students

:a simple children's story about magical creatures

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Examples: fairy-tale in a Sentence