: 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 ZimmermanExamples 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 Web
Omaid Homayun, Forbes.com, 9 Apr. 2025
In the shadow of the Vosges Mountains near the German border are France’s finest fairy-tale villages: Obernai, Ribeauvillé, Riquewihr, and Colmar—known for its Christmas market.
—Sophie Friedman, AFAR Media, 3 Apr. 2025
Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 13 Apr. 2025
My grass was a bright shade of fairy tale green, the trees were budding and my tulips had bloomed.
—Sherry Kuehl, Kansas City Star, 9 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fairy-tale
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Adjective
The Ultimate Test The 2002 season's fairy-tale narrative took a dark turn in Super Bowl XXXVII, where the Raiders faced a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team coached by Jon Gruden—the very man who had helped revitalize Gannon's career in Oakland before being traded to the Buccaneers the previous year.
—Omaid Homayun, Forbes.com, 9 Apr. 2025
In the shadow of the Vosges Mountains near the German border are France’s finest fairy-tale villages: Obernai, Ribeauvillé, Riquewihr, and Colmar—known for its Christmas market.
—Sophie Friedman, AFAR Media, 3 Apr. 2025
Noun
So far, the fairy tale adaptation has amassed $81.9 million domestically and $181 million globally to stand as the lowest-grossing (by far) of Disney’s live-action remakes.
—Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 13 Apr. 2025
My grass was a bright shade of fairy tale green, the trees were budding and my tulips had bloomed.
—Sherry Kuehl, Kansas City Star, 9 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fairy-tale
Cite this Entry
“Fairy-tale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fairy-tale. Accessed 19 Apr. 2025.
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