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Glite Dictionary
🎟️ A special chance 💻 A fake access pass
golden ticket

golden ticket

4 4.1
A special chance that gives a person an easy way to succeed
  • noun
  • Informal
translation icon : billete dorado
  • I nodded politely, hoping for any additional morsels from this golden-ticket teacher who, fair enough, could barely even know our child yet with a class of 26 and only a month of the school year under her belt.
  • you get a golden ticket

But what if I then said this was like a golden ticket?

Examples

  • So today, as a surprise golden ticket, Miss Erica is going to be taking her very own Natasha Denona.

  • They think they have a golden ticket.

    Blog text (18)

  • And then there's also some little soft toys and a golden ticket saying that we are officially going.

  • Y'all was our golden ticket and we didn't realize it.

  • I know that dinarians feel like their golden ticket is slipping from their grasp.

    Blog text (1)

  • And for my little freshman show to breakthrough to be seen the way it is, Oh my God, I've got the golden ticket, Yes I do.

  • Winning the scholarship was her golden ticket to a bright future.

  • This new connection could serve as a golden ticket for her career advancement.

  • The promotion felt like a golden ticket, opening doors to opportunities she never imagined.

Synonyms

golden opportunity
vsgolden ticket
18 3.2

A rare chance to do something important

is a guaranteed chance ensuring success or special access rather than mere rarity
inside track
vsgolden ticket
3 5.2

A special advantage that gives someone a better chance to succeed

is a guaranteed advantage promising success or entry rather than just privilege
ticket to ride
vsgolden ticket
  • Informal
6.9

A way to gain success or better opportunities

is a guaranteed advantage ensuring success or definite access rather than a chance

How Special

golden ticket
  • Informal
4 4.1
break
  • Informal
443 2.7
opportunity
∞ 2.0
possibility
∞ 2.0

Surface Forms

golden ticket singular
golden tickets plural

Morphology

golden + ticket

A B1 learner who knows 'golden' (especially valuable) and 'ticket' (a pass or document granting access) can infer the general idea of a special or very valuable pass that grants access, so the basic notion is predictable from the parts. However, the cybersecurity sense involves technical specifics (a forged Kerberos TGT enabling impersonation and domain-wide access) that are not derivable from the constituents, so the meaning is only partially transparent to non-experts.

Etymology

The phrase golden ticket comes from the children's story 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', where a few shiny golden tickets hidden in chocolate bars let people into a wonderful factory. So a golden ticket means a rare, special chance or 'advantage' that can open the way to success.