as in beloved
granted special treatment or attention
she had been the teacher's fair-haired pupil—the one who could do no wrong
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Recent Examples of fair-haired
Unlike the legend in Shakespeare’s Hamlet — whose rejection by the Prince of Denmark sparks her unraveling — this fair-haired singing socialite will not be losing the plot.
—
Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 Oct. 2025
Initially, instrumental music is playing, but once the band dies down, a fair-haired youth starts singing, countertenor-like.
—Angelica Frey, JSTOR Daily, 27 July 2025
Tempest, a fair-haired and athletic twenty-six-year-old, was from Bradford, an industrial city in northern England which was then the global capital of the wool trade.
—Ed Caesar, New Yorker, 13 July 2025
Legend has it that in 1327, Petrarch caught sight of a fair-haired, married woman named Laura in the church of Saint-Claire and fell head over heels, inspiring ardent daily writings of passion, anguish and ultimately despair.
—Miles Socha, Footwear News, 28 June 2025
Pavan was two months shy of 18, fair-haired and lanky.
—Mari Saito, USA Today, 20 May 2025
Emma has been some fabulous version of blonde for quite some time now, interrupting her fair-haired streak with the occasional brunette detour.
—Marci Robin, Allure, 3 Feb. 2025
The replication crisis has debunked many of psychology’s fair-haired hypotheses, but for the marshmallow test, things have only become more interesting.
—Big Think, 24 June 2024
Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 Oct. 2025
Initially, instrumental music is playing, but once the band dies down, a fair-haired youth starts singing, countertenor-like.
—Angelica Frey, JSTOR Daily, 27 July 2025
Tempest, a fair-haired and athletic twenty-six-year-old, was from Bradford, an industrial city in northern England which was then the global capital of the wool trade.
—Ed Caesar, New Yorker, 13 July 2025
Legend has it that in 1327, Petrarch caught sight of a fair-haired, married woman named Laura in the church of Saint-Claire and fell head over heels, inspiring ardent daily writings of passion, anguish and ultimately despair.
—Miles Socha, Footwear News, 28 June 2025
Pavan was two months shy of 18, fair-haired and lanky.
—Mari Saito, USA Today, 20 May 2025
Emma has been some fabulous version of blonde for quite some time now, interrupting her fair-haired streak with the occasional brunette detour.
—Marci Robin, Allure, 3 Feb. 2025
The replication crisis has debunked many of psychology’s fair-haired hypotheses, but for the marshmallow test, things have only become more interesting.
—Big Think, 24 June 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fair-haired
Adjective
-
There are love letters to the dead in Lasky’s life interwoven into these essays, including to her father (a judge who died, slowly, from Alzheimer’s), her artist mother, her dog Lucy, beloved poet friends, Mayer herself.—
Diana Arterian,
Literary Hub,
6 Nov. 2025
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The set was comprised of songs from across the beloved group’s discography, including The Bends (1995), OK Computer (1997), Kid A (2000), Amnesiac (2001), Hail to the Thief (2003), In Rainbows (2007), The King of Limbs (2011) and A Moon Shaped Pool (2016).—
Andrew Flanagan,
Variety,
5 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
The birthday girl got all the attention, while the couple also got to enjoy sharing their special day with loved ones in a new way.—
Angela Andaloro,
PEOPLE,
30 Oct. 2025
-
Attack People with narcissism often transition into the attack phase next, pummeling the character and credibility of their loved one.—
Angela Haupt,
Time,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The Super-Italian cookbook author posted a different tribute last week for one of her cherished pets.—
Sabrina Weiss,
PEOPLE,
4 Nov. 2025
-
Similarly, some music influencers have begun piloting live-listening and album-playback sessions on Twitch—an attempt to transplant a cherished artifact of the analogue era into the digital world.—
Jonathan Garrett,
The Atlantic,
29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
To what end should the precious removal capacity be deployed?—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Nov. 2025
-
The site features crosses of increasing sizes with a cruciform pit containing precious ritual artifacts at its center.—
Katie Hunt,
CNN Money,
5 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Grab it on Amazon right now, and check out my favorite air frying essentials below.—
Alicia Geigel,
Southern Living,
7 Nov. 2025
-
The trailer also offers an extended look at fan-favorite character Tyson (Daniel Diemer), a cyclops, and a brief glimpse of Tamara Smart as Thalia.—
Rick Porter,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
That was especially the case with Cam Schlittler, the darling rookie of the Wild Card round who shut down the Boston Red Sox to help his squad move on in the postseason.—
Scott Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
9 Oct. 2025
-
The original battle site is preserved today by the National Park Service as a darling little plot penned in on all sides by urban Boston.—
Caity Weaver,
The Atlantic,
8 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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For thousands of years, families in China have celebrated Qingming after the spring equinox, cleaning and decorating their ancestor’s graves and offering plates of sweet dumplings.—
Rocío Muñoz-Ledo,
CNN Money,
3 Nov. 2025
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Maybe Nat’s new life was also a work of art, in some strange, sweet, conceptual sense.—
James Marcus,
New Yorker,
3 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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For them, socialism has meant only a hankering for state tyranny and brazen assaults on property rights that, together, threaten the beliefs every patriotic citizen holds dear.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Nov. 2025
-
That, dear reader, is a mission worth pursuing.—
Angela Haupt,
Time,
5 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fair-haired.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fair-haired. Accessed 10 Nov. 2025.
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