American Dream
145
3.9
- noun
- /əˈmɛrɪkən drim/
- My wife Deborah and I were living the American dream.
- pursue the American Dream
- believe in the American Dream
- realize the American Dream
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Watch on YouTubeAnd it said rags to riches, like straight up tabloid American dream stuff like a caricature.
- And it said rags to riches, like straight up tabloid American dream stuff like a caricature.
- However, I do want to let you know that the New American Dream is alive and well.
- That's my challenge to the world because the story, again, is an American dream.
- I moved to USI thought, you know, I'm going to get all my rights, my freedoms, my liberty, you know, American dream.
- I had what a lot of people would be considered sort of a good life as living the proverbial American dream.
- He's living an American dream, and his children will never have to risk their lives to live the dream as well.
- But in that though, the American dream is dead, right?
- Do you think the American Dream still there?
- I'm running the gun and kicking doors in, and then suddenly here I'm, I'm being married, taking care of the kids and enjoying my American dream.
- Well, so that's that's quite a, you know, American Dream success story in a sense, you know, parents, son of immigrants that finds his own way.
Examples
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Well, that was the American dream, to own a home.
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Thus, a large number of African Americans were finally able to realize the American dream of owning a home.
Academic text (1997) -
And that core American dream, I think, right, you work hard, you play by the rules.
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What side of the American Dream are you going to be on?
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This is America, this is the American dream and everyone deserves it.
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My dad worked every hour to make our American dream come true.
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That's the beauty of the American Dream, you know.
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To be sure, the American dream still attracts millions from around the world.
Academic text (2005) -
Traditionally, the American dream was taken to entail prosperity and liberty.
Academic text (2003) -
Many people believe that hard work is essential to achieving the American Dream.
Synonyms
125
3.1
An idea that anyone in the US can become successful by working hard
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'American' (connected with the United States) and 'dream' (an aspiration) make it fairly easy for a B1 learner to guess this refers to an aspiration or ideal associated with the US. However, the full socio-historical sense — the specific ideology of upward mobility, meritocracy and economic opportunity — is culturally specific and not fully predictable from the words alone, so learners need prior exposure to grasp the exact meaning.
Etymology
American Dream puts together American and Dream to paint a picture of a personal hope for a better life in America. One writer used the words in 1931 to name this idea, and today it means the belief that anyone can 'succeed' through hard work.