the American Dream

the American Dream

1. The belief that anyone can succeed (often with an emphasis on material gain) through hard work. The American Dream feels less attainable the more I am crushed by student loans.
2. The achievement of wealth and success. After years of hard work, we finally have a big house and successful careers. We're living the American Dream.
See also: American, dream
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

American dream

the idealistic notion that Americans are preoccupied with obtaining certain materialistic goals. The American dream of home ownership, a car in the garage, and a chicken in every pot started in the early thirties.
See also: American, dream
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

the American dream

COMMON The American dream is the idea that anybody can be successful in life, even if they are born poor. Part of the American dream is building a new business that creates jobs and financial independence.
See also: American, dream
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

the American dream

the ideal by which equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved.
See also: American, dream
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

American dream, the

The image of prosperity, achievable through hard work. A political cliché invoked by candidates, it was used by Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America (1835) but may be even older. In 1975 psychoanalyst David Abrahansen was quoted as saying, “The American dream is in part responsible for a great deal of crime and violence, because people feel that the country owes them not only a living but a good living.” A similar cliché of even less precise definition is the American way, evoking an image of democracy, fairness, and other desirable traits.
See also: American
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • American dream
  • American dream, the
  • crush it
  • credit for
  • credit for (something)
  • within arm's reach
  • be a credit to
  • be a credit to (someone or something)
  • in reach
  • play in the big leagues
References in periodicals archive
A similarly sized improvementin Republican perceptions of the attainability of the American dream took place after President Donald Trump was elected.
Most Americans See American Dream as Achievable
To that end, she recounts how "the American dream" emerged in print in the late 19th century, when the Gilded Age gave way to the Progressive Era.
The underside of the 'American dream'
In Albee's The American Dream (1961), American Dream might be taken as a twin who has been mutilated.
Differance, Erasure and Edward Albee's The American Dream (1961)
It depends on what we mean by the American dream. If we define the American Dream as referring to global dominance, of course that's always either temporary or a complete miss.
Martha Rosler: The struggles of our time are against the toxic masculinity of men in power
The first filmic parable, Fight Club, reveals the bankruptcy of the American Dream in its blistering and evocative tone.
Profane Parables: Film and the American Dream
Non-whites were also more likely than white people to consider homeownership integral to the American dream, the survey said.
Changing perceptions of the American dream
I did my own public, albeit completely unscientific, poll of the term on my social media networks and was unable to find anyone who defined the American Dream with a ''get rich'' answer.
Waking up to what the 'Dream' is about
* African Americans and Chinese Americans maintain a strong belief in the American Dream. Only 17 percent of Chinese American respondents and 28 percent of African Americans believe the American Dream is disappearing.
Millennials see American dream fading
Emmett Winn confirms that the narratives evident in contemporary Hollywood cinema showcase the reality that the American Dream is alive and well (p.
Winn, Emmett J., The American Dream and Contemporary Hollywood
Yet, in each case, the event sets its creator off on a journey to illuminate the American Dream, that powerful current that buttresses the national ethos.
Visions of the American dream: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, and Norman Mailer probe at the heart of the national idea
They are self-indulgent, vacuous and they reproduce like bed bugs but they didn't corrupt the American dream.
BARACK Obama has been berating [...]
I want to pay tribute to the late Thelma Banks Johnson, a fellow home economist and a product of the American dream, who died last fall at age 103.
President's message
Homeownership may no longer be as central to the American Dream as it was for previous generations.
Homeownership and the American dream
Samuel presents this analysis of the history of the "The American Dream" as a driving concept in social development in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
The American dream; a cultural history
Senate candidate Ted Cruz released a new ad Tuesday targeting general election voters with a focus on encouraging small business growth and saving the American Dream.
Video: Cruz Touts "American Dream" in New Election Ad