golden
1 Americanadjective
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bright, metallic, or lustrous like gold; of the color of gold; yellow.
golden hair.
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made or consisting of gold.
golden earrings.
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exceptionally valuable, advantageous, or fine.
a golden opportunity.
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having glowing vitality; radiant.
golden youth.
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full of happiness, prosperity, or vigor.
golden hours;
a golden era of exploration.
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highly talented and favored; destined for success.
television's golden boy.
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richly soft and smooth.
a golden voice.
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indicating the fiftieth event of a series.
a golden wedding anniversary.
noun
adjective
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of the yellowish or brownish-yellow metallic colour of gold
golden hair
-
made from or largely consisting of gold
a golden statue
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happy or prosperous
golden days
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(sometimes capital) (of anniversaries) the 50th in a series
Golden Jubilee
golden wedding
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informal very successful or destined for success
the golden girl of tennis
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extremely valuable or advantageous
a golden opportunity
Other Word Forms
- goldenly adverb
- goldenness noun
- ungolden adjective
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.
Magyar has mapped a balanced approach toward the Chinese golden goose.
From Barron's • Apr. 17, 2026
SAN DIEGO—With the Colorado River in crisis, Arizona and Nevada are turning to an unconventional life line: the ocean water off California’s golden beaches.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
What had been brothy turned to something thicker, glossier — golden, almost velvety.
From Salon • Apr. 16, 2026
To John C. Bogle, Vanguard founder and father of the mutual fund, this was the golden age of the individual investor, with American households directly owning 91% of the stock market.
From Barron's • Apr. 15, 2026
The doll stood next to the golden crane on Sadako’s bedside table.
From "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" by Eleanor Coerr
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.
