: 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
Sophie Friedman, AFAR Media, 3 Apr. 2025
The original Tangled starred Mandy Moore as the golden-haired princess of fairy-tale lore and Zachary Levi as the dashing rogue Flynn Rider.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 3 Apr. 2025
Lissete Lanuza Sáenz, StyleCaster, 2 Apr. 2025
George Washington, goes the fairy tale about chopping the cherry tree, couldn’t tell a lie.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 1 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fairy-tale
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Adjective
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
The original Tangled starred Mandy Moore as the golden-haired princess of fairy-tale lore and Zachary Levi as the dashing rogue Flynn Rider.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 3 Apr. 2025
Noun
Particularly, because the whole thing seemed like a fairy tale from the beginning.
—Lissete Lanuza Sáenz, StyleCaster, 2 Apr. 2025
George Washington, goes the fairy tale about chopping the cherry tree, couldn’t tell a lie.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 1 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 12 Apr. 2025.
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