rose-colored glasses
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of rose-colored glasses
First recorded in 1860–65
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.
It was a “classic sort of rose-colored glasses, ‘We thought, oh, the potential market’s huge,’ but in retrospect it wasn’t,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Wall Street analysts are pessimistic on Lululemon, through the filter of their usually rose-colored glasses.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
In these dystopian times, when realism is more important than ever, it’s a grave mistake to let rose-colored glasses distort our vision, or to substitute unmerited patience for vital urgency.
From Salon ● Apr. 20, 2026
“I tend to look backwards with nostalgia, rose-colored glasses, which I’m happy that I do,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2025
I have to laugh at myself, already looking at that time through rose-colored glasses.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
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.
