a heroine of a fairy tale or folk tale who is maltreated by a malevolent stepmother but achieves happiness and marries a prince through the benevolent intervention of a fairy godmother.
(italics) the tale itself, the earliest version of which is in Chinese and dates from the 9th century a.d.
(italics) a ballet (1945) with musical score by Sergei Prokofiev.
a person or thing of merit, undeservedly neglected or forced into a wretched or obscure existence.
a person or thing that achieves unexpected or sudden success or recognition, especially after obscurity, neglect, or misery (often used attributively).
Which team will find themselves the Cinderella of this year’s college basketball season?
a girl who achieves fame after being obscure
a poor, neglected, or unsuccessful person or thing
( as modifier )
a Cinderella service within the NHS
(modifier) relating to dramatic success
a Cinderella story
The name Cinderella is sometimes applied to a person or group that undergoes a sudden transformation, such as an athletic team that loses frequently and then starts to win steadily.
First recorded in 1840–50; partial translation of French Cendrillon “Little Ashes,” from Charles Perrault’s Cendrillon, ou la petite pantoufle de verre “Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper” (1697)
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
With Fabio, it really is a Cinderella story.
From BBC • May 8, 2026
And the Cinderella metaphor comes in because Cinderella created a pumpkin into a chariot that became a fantasy world, and she lived it like I was living in the race car world at that time.
From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2026
But once he made the jump to Ann Arbor, he knew that he was no longer in Cinderella country.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026
"It's a bit like the Cinderella fairy tale," says Benjamin Koch from the Institute for Theoretical Physics at TU Wien.
From Science Daily • Mar. 9, 2026
He looked at Mami the way I imagined Prince Charming looked at Cinderella, and she blushed when he was around.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
