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.
“You serve big and hearty slices of moist, tender Swanson turkey, with grand giblet gravy and special corn-bread dressing, and fluffy, whipped sweet potatoes with golden Swanson butter, and garden-fresh peas with more butter.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026
I’m a firm believer that any meal involving golden egg yolks, a skillet full of sauce and toasted bread meant for dragging through said sauce is already halfway to perfection.
From Salon • May 12, 2026
And yet, these were golden times – both on and off the field.
From BBC • May 10, 2026
"Let me say this plainly: this is not a golden calf," he said later that night on X, referring to the Old Testament idol that famously made Moses irate after he received the Commandments.
From Barron's • May 8, 2026
She smiled at the gold at first, and the glittering skeins piled around her feet, like a golden pool.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
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.
