fairy tale

1. 1.

   a story about fairies; told to amuse children

   Synonymsfairytalefairy story

   Broadernarrative
2. 2.

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

   Synonymsfairytalefairy storycock-and-bull storysong and dance

   Broaderfib

Questions about fairy tale

What does fairy tale mean?

fairy tale means "a story about fairies; told to amuse children". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for fairy tale?

Close synonyms include fairytale, fairy story, fairytale, fairy story, cock-and-bull story. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is fairy tale a common word?

fairy tale is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.