CINDERELLA

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

• CINDERELLA (noun)
  The noun CINDERELLA has 2 senses:

1. a woman whose merits were not been recognized but who then achieves sudden success and recognition

2. a fictional young girl who is saved from her stepmother and stepsisters by her fairy godmother and a handsome prince

  Familiarity information: CINDERELLA used as a noun is rare.

• CINDERELLA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A woman whose merits were not been recognized but who then achieves sudden success and recognition

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Cinderella" is a kind of...):

adult female; woman (an adult female person (as opposed to a man))

Sense 2

Meaning:

A fictional young girl who is saved from her stepmother and stepsisters by her fairy godmother and a handsome prince

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Instance hypernyms:

character; fictional character; fictitious character (an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (play or film or story))

 Context examples 

I shan't let anyone see you till you are done, and then we'll burst upon them like Cinderella and her godmother going to the ball, said Belle in her persuasive tone.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The mother, however, loved the ugly and lazy one best, because she was her own daughter, and so the other, who was only her stepdaughter, was made to do all the work of the house, and was quite the Cinderella of the family.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)