: 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
Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 6 May 2025
The outright comedy relief (notably Milo Mechem-Miller and Christopher Burnside as Bill-and-Ted-like sidekicks to the Prince) doesn’t quite work; ditto the attempt to paint Snow, the Prince and their friends in flippant modern-youth terms, while simultaneously selling classic fairy-tale romance.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 2 May 2025
Mackenzie Farkus, Christian Science Monitor, 2 May 2025
With her son, Daniel Kairys, MD, a general surgeon and a natural storyteller, Kairys began crafting children’s stories, inspired by her global travels for her work in maternal and child healthcare and her childhood love of fairy tales.
—Kaitlyn Gomez, USA Today, 1 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for fairy-tale
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Adjective
Intuiting that her lust for vendetta is a more effective lever to pull than, say, June’s political commitments or even her guilt, Joseph brings up Serena Joy’s fairy-tale wedding.
—Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 6 May 2025
The outright comedy relief (notably Milo Mechem-Miller and Christopher Burnside as Bill-and-Ted-like sidekicks to the Prince) doesn’t quite work; ditto the attempt to paint Snow, the Prince and their friends in flippant modern-youth terms, while simultaneously selling classic fairy-tale romance.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 2 May 2025
Noun
She was twice expelled from convent schools, and favored reading Irish fairy tales, Lewis Carroll, and Beatrix Potter over learning how to become the perfect debutante.
—Mackenzie Farkus, Christian Science Monitor, 2 May 2025
With her son, Daniel Kairys, MD, a general surgeon and a natural storyteller, Kairys began crafting children’s stories, inspired by her global travels for her work in maternal and child healthcare and her childhood love of fairy tales.
—Kaitlyn Gomez, USA Today, 1 May 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 15 May. 2025.
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