fairytale

fairytale — noun

1. a children's story about imaginary creatures, magic, and enchanted places, often

1.名詞A2
釋義

a children's story about imaginary creatures, magic, and enchanted places, often with princes, princesses, and happy endings.

例句

Before bed, Linh's grandmother read her a fairytale about a dragon and a brave princess.

read (someone) a fairytale — typical verb-object collocation

The children acted out their favourite fairytale, with Noa playing the wicked witch.

favourite fairytale — common adjective collocation

同義詞
  • folk tale

    a traditional story passed down orally within a culture; fairytales are a sub-type of folk tales that specifically include magic

  • fable

    a short story, usually with animal characters, that teaches a clear moral lesson

  • legend

    a semi-historical story about heroic figures; legends are presented as possibly true, unlike fairytales

文法句型

a fairytale

fairytales (plural)

用法筆記

The word can also be written as two separate words (fairy tale) or with a hyphen (fairy-tale). The closed compound 'fairytale' is especially common in British English and in journalistic writing.

常見錯誤

❌Aesop's fables are fairytales about animals.
✅Aesop's fables are short moral stories with animal characters, not fairytales.
💡Fairytales involve magic and enchantment; fables teach practical lessons through talking animals.

2. a description of events that is so exaggerated or unlikely that it cannot be bel

2.名詞B2
釋義

a description of events that is so exaggerated or unlikely that it cannot be believed, often used as an excuse.

例句

When Élise told police she got lost in the woods, no one believed her fairytale.

tell a fairytale — figurative use meaning a false excuse

The politician's description of a perfect economy was just a fairytale with no real numbers.

dismiss something as a fairytale — critical tone

同義詞
  • fabrication

    more formal; emphasises that something was invented with intent to deceive

  • tall tale

    informal; describes an exaggerated story told for entertainment rather than deception

  • fantasy

    can refer to an imagined situation; softer and less accusatory than 'fairytale'

反義詞
  • fact

    a piece of information that can be proven true

  • truth

    the real facts about a situation

文法句型

a fairytale

something is a fairytale

用法筆記

This figurative use carries a negative or sceptical tone. The speaker implies that the story is not just wrong but deliberately misleading or self-serving. Objects are typically accounts, excuses, promises, or explanations.

常見錯誤

❌The documentary told a fairytale about ancient Egypt.
✅The documentary told a story about ancient Egypt.
💡The figurative sense of 'fairytale' implies a deliberately false claim, not just a fictional narrative.

fairytale — adjective