English Explanatory Dictionary

rose-colored glasses

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A cognitive or perceptual bias where an individual views something in an overly optimistic or positive light, often failing to recognize its negative aspects.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see rose-colored, glasses.

Pronunciation

En-au-rose-colored glasses.ogg

Word forms

rose-colored glasses rose-coloured glasses rose-tinted glasses rose-colored lenses rose-coloured spectacles rose-tinted spectacles

Etymology

Phrase appears as early as 1830 according to OED. From rose-color or rose-colored (meaning "pleasant"), from the notion that roses are widely regarded as uncommonly beautiful.

Derived words

look through rose-colored glasses through rose-colored glasses view through rose-colored glasses wear rose-colored glasses
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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