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:
Hoisting that golden trophy for his acting is one of the only Hollywood milestones that Cruise has yet to achieve.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Russell gave himself a golden opportunity to breathe some life into his almost-extinguished title hopes when he beat Verstappen off the line and took the lead into the first corner.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Some speculated that it was a reference to his Midas touch, or perhaps his "golden age" at the brand.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
The new genus, Laurinque, is derived from "Laurinquë," which means "golden tree" in Quenya, the Elvish language created by J.R.R.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
She was positive that her golden boy could return from the grave and believed in the power of the Fox sisters’ mediumship to make that happen.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
And it doesn’t get any easier, with the Kings’ next two games against the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Hanks, who is white and was born in Los Angeles, resurfaced to public consciousness in 2020 when he — unprompted — introduced himself at the Golden Globes red carpet with his impression of Jamaican Patois.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
He has scored 152 goals in 154 games for the club, won the Bundesliga Golden Boot three times and won two German titles and a German Cup.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
The fact the Golden Cougars have kept winning after the graduation of All-City quarterback Diego Montes shows how Cassidy has built the next-up mentality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
The guest speaker was Herb Sandler, the CEO of a giant savings and loan called Golden West Financial Corporation.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
