fairy story
1
5.5
- noun
- /ˈfɛri ˈstɔri/
- UK
:
cuento chino
- He described his wild plan as a fairy story to explain why he believed it could work.
Examples
-
Many considered her account of the events to be just another fairy story meant to justify her actions.
-
He is throwing out certain things as not being fairy stories, even though some people would call them that.
-
That's a fairy story, lad.
-
The politician's promises were nothing more than a fairy story to win over skeptical voters.
Synonyms
∞
7.5
A lie told to avoid trouble
453
3.7
A wrong idea that many people believe
133
5.1
A false story someone tells, often small and harmless
26
4.3
A story many people believe that is probably not true, often about scary or strange events
20
7.2
A long story that is probably not true
19
4.0
A story that says things are bigger or more amazing than they really are to be funny
15
3.4
A made-up story told to hide the truth or deceive people
10
4.6
A made-up story used to avoid blame or trick people
10
4.9
A false story told to trick or impress people
7
4.6
A very exciting tale that is often not true
1
6.3
An absurd lie used to avoid blame or trick someone
1
7.2
A complicated story used as an excuse to avoid blame
1
7.3
A made-up tale that is hard to believe
A false story people tell to hide the real reason
A silly story that is clearly false and hard to believe
A false story made to hide the truth
A made-up story told in a big, exciting way to amuse people
Antonyms
How Believable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'fairy' (mythical, unreal) and 'story' (narrative) combine to signal a tale that is fantastical or not realistic, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer that the phrase denotes something implausible. However, the specific pragmatic sense—used as an excuse or to deceive—is a metaphorical/idiomatic extension beyond the literal combination, so full meaning may not be predictable without exposure.
Etymology
Fairy story is also used to mean a tale that seems too strange or made up to be true. People compare the fairy part to a child's magical tale, so they call an unlikely excuse a 'fairy story' when they think someone is 'making it up'.