cinderella

/ˌsɪndəˈɹɛlə/

cinderella is the alternative letter-case form of Cinderella.

Proper noun capitalized: Cinderella

Cinderella (plural Cinderellas)

A popular fairy tale embodying a classic folk tale myth-element of unjust oppression and triumphant reward.
The main character in this story, a mistreated and impoverished girl.
- The girls look like Southern belles or Cinderellas. The prom’s theme is Cinderellian: “Until Midnight.” Little, clear slippers sit on the 30 cloth- and candle-covered tables on the tarp-covered gymnasium floor.1988 May 16, Melissa Merlie, “Dancing the night away”, in Chillicothe Gazette, volume 189, number 39, Chillicothe, Ohio, page 1B, column 2
- Womanly duties, as Joan thought of them, were fine for girls who imagined themselves as Cinderellas or Sleeping Beauties, good girls rewarded for menial housework and, in the case of Sleeping Beauty, a passivity so profound it was deaf, dumb, blind, and comatose.2014, Kathryn Harrison, Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured, Doubleday, →ISBN
(rare) A female given name originating as a coinage.

Noun capitalized: Cinderella

Cinderella (plural Cinderellas)

(figuratively, by analogy) A mistreated and impoverished girl.
(attributive) Something rising unexpectedly from obscurity to success, as a Cinderella team.
(attributive) Something neglected and denied resources, as a Cinderella service.
- Cinderella State
- The Cinderella of the present trio is the Freshwater, which is laid up in the winter months, when one or other of her ugly sisters is sufficient to cope with the service.1956 February, R. C. Riley, “The Lymington Railway and Isle of Wight Ferry”, in Railway Magazine, page 82
(attributive, colloquial, informal) A procedure or surgery to reshape the feet.
- For Dr. Sadrieh (who was wearing made-to-order Gucci brogues), foot surgery is a fusion of medicine and fairy tale. At his practice, you don’t have a bunionectomy; you have a Cinderella procedure.2014 April 22, Laren Stover, “Make Them Fit, Please!”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 14 Sep 2014
- By the mid-1930s prominent members of society, including the aristocracy, were paying hefty fees for this Cinderella surgery, correcting double chins, reshaping noses and smoothing wrinkles and creases, even having stomach tucks.2020, Robert Wainwright, Enid: The Scandalous High-society Life of the Formidable 'Lady Killmore', Allen & Unwin, page 125
A stamp or stamp-like label issued for purposes other than postal administration, not issued by a central government, or not listed in most general catalogues.
(derogatory, rare) A woman employed to clean, especially to remove ash from stoves and fireplaces.

Forms of cinderella

Noun
plural	cinderellas
plural	Cinderellas
Proper noun
plural	Cinderellas
alternative form	cinderella

Origin of cinderella

From cinder + -ella.

From cinder + Italian -ella, as in little cinder girl. Compare French Cendrillon.

Words formed from cinderella

Phrases with cinderella

Words that rhyme with cinderella

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about cinderella

What does cinderella mean?: Cinderella means a popular fairy tale embodying a classic folk tale myth-element of unjust oppression and triumphant reward.
What is cinderella the alternative letter-case form of?: Cinderella is the alternative letter-case form of Cinderella.
What part of speech is cinderella?: Cinderella can be a proper noun or a noun.
How do you pronounce cinderella?: Cinderella is pronounced /ˌsɪndəˈɹɛlə/.

Words near cinderella in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: cinderella (page history and authors); Cinderella (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Cinderella.wav.

Cite this entry: “cinderella.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cinderella. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.