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View synonyms for golden handcuffs

golden handcuffs

[ gohl-duhn hand-kuhfs ]

plural noun

  1. incentives like bonuses, raises, insurance plans, and flexible hours that discourage employees from leaving a company:

    She wasn’t especially happy in her job, but the healthcare benefits were the golden handcuffs that kept her from looking elsewhere.



golden handcuffs

plural noun

  1. informal.
    payments deferred over a number of years that induce a person to stay with a particular company or in a particular job
“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


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Word History and Origins

Origin of golden handcuffs1

First recorded in 1985–90
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Idioms and Phrases

Financial benefits that an employee will lose upon resigning, as in The company's presented all the middle managers with golden handcuffs, so they can't afford to leave . This slangy business expression dates from the 1970s.

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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.

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