American Dream

American  

[uh-mer-i-kuhn dreem] / əˈmɛr ɪ kən ˈdrim /

Or American dream

noun

1. a life of personal happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals in the United States.

   I want to find a decent job, buy a house, have a family, and live the American dream.

2. the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American.

   The American Dream even allows us to criticize America, as part of our freedom of speech.

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American Dream British  

noun

1. the notion that the American social, economic, and political system makes success possible for every individual

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American Dream Cultural  

1. A phrase connoting hope for prosperity and happiness, symbolized particularly by having a house of one's own. Possibly applied at first to the hopes of immigrants, the phrase now applies to all except the very rich and suggests a confident hope that one's children's economic and social condition will be better than one's own.

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Usage

What is the American Dream? The American Dream is the aspirational belief in the U. S. that all individuals are entitled to the opportunity for success and upward social mobility through hard work.

Etymology

Origin of American Dream

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

American Dream

She cites a survey, for instance, in which second-generation Nigerian immigrants were asked what being American meant to them: Seventy percent responded that they believed in the American Dream.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

Recognizing the urgency of the moment, Garcia filed a discharge petition for the American Dream and Promise Act last month.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026

“There’s been a dramatic rise in their likelihood of despair and of ill mental health. The viability of their American Dream is at stake.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

As it marks two-and-a-half centuries of triumphs and tragedies, slavery and freedom, civil war and world wars, surveys show the nation is pessimistic about the chances of realizing the "American Dream."

From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026

“Money might be part of the American Dream, but it isn’t all of it. Like a building doesn’t make a home.”

From "Towers Falling" by Jewell Parker Rhodes