fairy tale vs cock-and-bull story

fairy tale and cock-and-bull story both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
fairy tale	Yes	No	No	No
cock-and-bull story	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, fairy tale and cock-and-bull story are synonyms defined as:

fairy tale and cock-and-bull story: an interesting but highly implausible story; often told as an excuse

Other synonyms of fairy tale include fairy story, fairytale, song and dance.

fairy tale (noun)	cock-and-bull story (noun)
a story about fairies; told to amuse children	an interesting but highly implausible story; often told as an excuse
an interesting but highly implausible story; often told as an excuse