FAIRY STORY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fairy story mean? 

• FAIRY STORY (noun)
  The noun FAIRY STORY has 2 senses:

1. a story about fairies; told to amuse children

2. an interesting but highly implausible story; often told as an excuse

  Familiarity information: FAIRY STORY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FAIRY STORY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A story about fairies; told to amuse children

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

fairy story; fairy tale; fairytale

Hypernyms ("fairy story" is a kind of...):

narration; narrative; story; tale (a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program)

Domain member category:

Bluebeard ((fairytale) a monstrous villain who marries seven women; he kills the first six for disobedience)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An interesting but highly implausible story; often told as an excuse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

cock-and-bull story; fairy story; fairy tale; fairytale; song and dance

Hypernyms ("fairy story" is a kind of...):

fib; story; tale; taradiddle; tarradiddle (a trivial lie)

 Context examples 

I know that my juvenile experiences went for little or nothing then; and that life was more like a great fairy story, which I was just about to begin to read, than anything else.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)