golden
Formsgoldens, goldening, goldened
- 1Having a color, glow, or richness that suggests gold.
Late-afternoon light turned the wheat fields golden.
Her voice had a golden warmth that filled the concert hall.
UsageCommon in golden brown and golden hair. For things really made of gold, gold is more usual: a gold ring.
- 2Fashioned from gold, or connected with gold in some way.
The museum displays a golden goblet hammered from solid gold centuries ago.
Divers recovered golden jewelry from the wreck of the treasure ship.
UsageIn everyday use gold is more usual for the metal: a gold watch. Golden here sounds literary or grand.
Note
Beyond the literal crown or goblet, the word can stand for money itself: when Tom Jones persuades a boy "by golden arguments" to guide him back to an inn in Henry Fielding's novel of 1749, the arguments are coins.
- 3Marked by prosperity, creativity, or similar flourishing.
Critics consider the 1970s a golden era for American film.
The port city enjoyed a golden period of trade and invention.
UsageMostly in a golden age and a golden era: the golden age of radio.
Similarprosperous, flourishing, thriving, halcyon
- 4Offering a clear advantage; very favorable.
The merger gives the startup a golden opportunity to expand overseas.
A canceled flight turned into a golden chance to explore the city.
UsageUsually before opportunity or chance: a golden opportunity, a golden chance to win.
Similarexcellent, ideal, perfect, favorable
Note
Sports writing uses it for scoring openings: Jamie Lillywhite's BBC Sport report of 2011 has a side creating "some golden opportunities" between the defenders. Unlike the color sense, nothing here glitters. The gold is the value of the moment, the sense that such a chance may not come again.
- 5Relating to a fiftieth anniversary.
Their children are planning a big dinner by the lake for their parents' golden anniversary next spring.
The firm marked its golden jubilee with a company-wide celebration.
UsageMostly in golden anniversary, golden wedding and golden jubilee.
- 6Ellipsis of golden retriever.
The breeder had one golden left from the spring litter.
Their golden swims in the lake every chance it gets.
UsageA countable noun in friendly talk: our golden, two goldens.
Note
Breed writers use the short form freely. Jaime J. Sucher's guide Golden Retrievers notes that the Golden Retriever Club of America records goldens in the United States as early as the 1890s.
- 7Relating to the elderly or to people who have retired.
They spent their golden years traveling the country in a small camper.
After forty years at the factory, he spent his golden years fishing and visiting his grandchildren.
UsageMostly in set phrases: golden years (the years after retirement) and golden ager. Calling someone golden alone does not mean old.
Similarsenior
Note
The gold echoes the "flourishing era" sense, presenting retirement as a reward rather than a decline. It lives mostly in set phrases such as golden years, the time after retirement, and golden ager for an older person. On its own, calling someone golden does not mean that they are old.
Less common meanings
- 8Completely fine, with nothing wrong and no problems left to worry about.
Once the boiler's fixed, you'll be golden for the winter.
We picked up the keys to the apartment, so we're golden.
UsageUsually after be, in casual talk: you're golden, we'll be golden. Before a noun, it has its other meanings.
Similarfine, set, sorted, okay
Note
It is the language of reassurance in how-to writing, where a list of steps ends in a promise: rub spit on the goggles "and you'll be golden."
- 9Describing a beverage flavored or colored with turmeric.
The café's golden latte owes its bright color to fresh turmeric.
She drinks golden milk made with turmeric and honey before bed.
UsageMostly in golden milk and golden latte.
- 10To give something a gold color, or to take on a gold color.
Watch the autumn light golden the hillsides each evening.
Years of sunlight have goldened the old linen curtains.
Note
Here something does the gilding: light, sun or age gives another thing its color, and the verb takes an object. Marion H. Hedges's Iron City shows the shape well: "It goldened, as nothing else goldened, the commonplace countryside." Without an object the same verb means to turn gold oneself, as leaves golden in autumn. The forms are regular: goldened, goldening.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Marion H. Hedges wrote Iron City. beloit.edu
- Iron City contains the quoted sentence, with “goldened” taking “the commonplace countryside” as its object. en.wiktionary.org
- 11A sea chub, Kyphosus vaigiensis, a silvery fish with thin golden lines along its body, found in warm seas worldwide, including Southeast Asia.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
From Middle English golden (a form reshaped after the noun gold from earlier gulden, gylden), from Old English gylden, going back to Proto-Germanic *gulþīnaz ('golden, made of gold'); essentially gold plus the suffix -en. It is related to Dutch gouden, German golden, and Danish gylden.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Golden comes from Middle English golden, reshaped after gold from earlier gulden and gylden. en.wiktionary.org
- The earlier forms descend from Old English gylden and ultimately Proto-Germanic *gulþīnaz, meaning 'golden, made of gold'. en.wiktionary.org
- The word is essentially gold plus the suffix -en. en.wiktionary.org
- Golden is related to Dutch gouden, German golden, and Danish gylden. en.wiktionary.org
From gold plus the suffix -en, or perhaps derived from the adjective golden.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The verb golden derives from gold plus the suffix -en, with an alternative derivation possible. en.wiktionary.org
- The verb golden may instead derive from the adjective golden. en.wiktionary.org