golden
adjective
golden
1 American
[gohl-duhn]
/ ˈgoʊl dən /
adjective
-
bright, metallic, or lustrous like gold; of the color of gold; yellow.
golden hair.
-
made or consisting of gold.
golden earrings.
-
exceptionally valuable, advantageous, or fine.
a golden opportunity.
-
having glowing vitality; radiant.
golden youth.
-
full of happiness, prosperity, or vigor.
golden hours;
a golden era of exploration.
-
highly talented and favored; destined for success.
television's golden boy.
-
richly soft and smooth.
a golden voice.
-
indicating the fiftieth event of a series.
a golden wedding anniversary.
Golden
2
American
[gohl-duhn]
/ ˈgoʊl dən /
noun
golden
British
/ ˈɡəʊldən /
adjective
-
of the yellowish or brownish-yellow metallic colour of gold
golden hair
-
made from or largely consisting of gold
a golden statue
-
happy or prosperous
golden days
-
(sometimes capital) (of anniversaries) the 50th in a series
Golden Jubilee
golden wedding
-
informal very successful or destined for success
the golden girl of tennis
-
extremely valuable or advantageous
a golden opportunity
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of golden
Explanation
Something that's golden is made out of gold. A queen in a fairy tale might wear an elaborate golden crown. Aside from golden ornaments and jewelry, things the color of gold are also golden, like a boy's golden hair or golden fields of wheat. If you talk about a golden time or a golden opportunity, you mean something marked by luck, peace, and happiness. In Old English, it was common to add the suffix -en to mean "made of," but golden is one of just a few of these words in modern English (including wooden and waxen).
Vocabulary lists containing golden
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -en
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Champagne argued that Canada's strong fiscal position helped underpin its resilience, and the dispute with the US provided a "golden opportunity" to diversify.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
What Paxton must have known, though, is that once he became the nominee, he’d be golden.
From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2026
Among Guthrie’s “dear ones” who “crossed that golden river” were 19-year-old twins, Winston and Weston Doty, USC yell leaders who had played twins in the 1924 film “Peter Pan.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Tyler ingratiates himself with the trio and becomes fascinated with Chana, thereby breaking the investigator’s golden rule: “Never fall for your prey.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
But the golden arrows had appeared to Danny.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
Wonka's The Golden Ticket premieres on Netflix this week, with a two-part finale scheduled for 30 September.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
One man was killed and two people were hospitalized after their fishing boat struck rocks and capsized beneath the Golden Gate Bridge on Thursday, according to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
When Will Hudson bought his condo in Golden, Colo., two years ago, the last thing he expected was to be trapped with the real-estate equivalent of a lemon.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
In the early 1600s, the Seguso name was added to the Venetian government’s Libro d’Oro, or Golden Book, granting them nobility for their glassmaking.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
In one important story, the Quest of the Golden Fleece, she is the gracious protector of heroes and the inspirer of heroic deeds, but not in any other.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
