golden retriever

American

noun

one of an English breed of retrievers having a thick, flat or wavy, golden coat.

golden retriever British

noun

a compact large breed of dog having a silky coat of flat or wavy hair of a gold or dark-cream colour, well-feathered on the legs and tail

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

golden retrievers

plural

Etymology

Origin of golden retriever

First recorded in 1915–20

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.

And, of course, a cute-as-a-button golden retriever who can shoot hoops as well as he can act is always going to hit the mark, he said.

From Barron's • May 10, 2026

By scanning the entire genome of each golden retriever, they identified genetic markers that appeared more frequently in dogs displaying particular behavioral traits.

From Science Daily • Mar. 7, 2026

He wasn’t sure when he’d be able to move back home to Altadena with Daisy May, his 13½-year-old golden retriever.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 27, 2025

Preparing for the role in his hotel room, he once found himself mimicking the facial movements of his golden retriever, Layla.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 30, 2025

The Palmers had planned to get a small dog but the moment Jonathan saw the big golden retriever, who was then one year old, he knew which dog he wanted.

From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023