Cinderellian

adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of, resembling, or characteristic of Cinderella (the character).; Gracefully small.

    "He had heard for some time the sound of packing and preparing a carriage, but the worst did not strike his mind, for throwing open the window in blind haste, he beheld, O Heavens! the lovely Hebe, just in the trying moment when she was placing her cinderellian foot on the steps of the carriage, the corpulent landlord with his white woollen cap under his arm, assisting her with his profane hands."

  2. 2
    Of, resembling, or characteristic of Cinderella (the character).; Gracefully small.; Having gracefully small feet. broadly

    "In a well-proportioned physical make-up the stature is about 6 to 6⅓ times the foot length, but in adults the feet range in size from a fashionable No. 1 to the hob-nailed, double sole and tap, No. 12 of the miner; in beauty from those of a Cinderellian belle to the hideous club hoofs of the poor unfortunates."

  3. 3
    Of, resembling, or characteristic of Cinderella (the character).; Performing gruelling and tedious chores.

    "[…] [F]or my purpose in the discussion of poetry is not to furnish a house, but rather, as a Cinderellian drudge, to rid its theory of cobwebs and some of its blinding dust."

  4. 4
    Of, resembling, or characteristic of Cinderella (the character).; Performing gruelling and tedious chores.; Gruelling and tedious. broadly

    "Each evening, when he returned from work, we’d sail away on a magic carpet to some exotic place. No matter that the hours between were filled with Cinderellian tasks. His love swept away the mundane."

  5. 5
    Of, resembling, or characteristic of Cinderella (the fairytale).

    "a cinderellian story. “‘Poor Martha Semple! she is indeed an object of pity,’ says Mrs. Townsend, a cousin of hers; ‘not that she is not well treated, not that she is not very amiable, but she is so remarkably plain; it is quite clear she can never marry. Her three sisters, all such belles, all courted and admired! Alas, poor girl! she has, I fear, but little chance of ever getting off.’"

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  1. 6
    Of, resembling, or characteristic of Cinderella (the fairytale).; Constituting maltreatment, especially as motivated by favoritism, nepotism, or cronyism.

    "‘CINDERELLIAN’ TREATMENT OF FARMERS"

  2. 7
    Of, resembling, or characteristic of Cinderella (the fairytale).; Ending at or avoiding midnight.

    "Communicators are almost Cinderellian in their avoidance of midnight, and use either 2359 or 0001."

Synonyms

All synonyms
cinderellaesque

Example

More examples

"He had heard for some time the sound of packing and preparing a carriage, but the worst did not strike his mind, for throwing open the window in blind haste, he beheld, O Heavens! the lovely Hebe, just in the trying moment when she was placing her cinderellian foot on the steps of the carriage, the corpulent landlord with his white woollen cap under his arm, assisting her with his profane hands."

Etymology

From Cinderell(a) + -ian.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.