cinderella
part of speech
proper noun (Cinderella — a story character); noun (a Cinderella — something or someone ignored, figurative)
meaning for a pupil
1) Cinderella is the girl in a famous fairy tale who is treated badly by her stepmother and stepsisters, goes to the prince's ball with help from her fairy godmother, loses a glass slipper and marries the prince. tree →
2) (figurative) A Cinderella is a person or thing that is ignored or treated as less important but deserves more attention. tree →
3) (sport) A Cinderella story is when a small, unexpected team or person does very well. tree →
sense in the lessons
In English lessons Cinderella is a classic fairy tale told in many countries (versions by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, and very old ones from China and Egypt). At Christmas it is a favourite UK pantomime. Figuratively, news writers say a subject is «the Cinderella of the school curriculum». Phrases: Cinderella story, be home by midnight like Cinderella.
examples
- Cinderella's fairy godmother turned a pumpkin into a coach. tree →
- At midnight Cinderella ran away and lost her glass slipper. tree →
- We saw Cinderella as a pantomime at Christmas. tree →
- The little village team had a Cinderella run to the final. tree →
- Music is often the Cinderella subject at some schools. tree →
- «Be home by midnight, Cinderella!» joked Dad. tree →
- There are hundreds of versions of the Cinderella story around the world. tree →
- “Y--es,” cried Cinderella, with a great sigh. tree →
note
Capital C for the character. The name means «little cinder girl», because she slept in the ashes by the fire. Not used in maths.
In the corpora
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «cinderella» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.