nesting doll

noun

plural nesting dolls

: russian doll

The most familiar nesting dolls … represent maidens and grandmothers. … While most have painted babushkas tied under their chins, the shapes vary, ranging from bullet-shaped to conical to roly-poly.

—Anita Gold

… there was a set of nesting dolls for every baseball team and football team in the United States.

—Minna J. Edelman

Examples of nesting doll in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This is an underdog story about an underdog story about an underdog story, a nesting doll of the kind of narrative that awards voters have always loved. — Joe Reid, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1956, in the meaning defined above