golden handcuffs

noun

Any arrangement or agreement designed to provide extremely favorable benefits or pay, so as to discourage a participant from choosing to leave it, especially to retain a choice employee in a role that is unpleasant to them.

“The stock plan really served as golden handcuffs for the executives.”

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Meanings

noungolden handcuffs pl (plural only)
  1. idiomaticpluralplural onlyAny arrangement or agreement designed to provide extremely favorable benefits or pay, so as to discourage a participant from choosing to leave it, especially to retain a choice employee in a role that is unpleasant to them.

    The stock plan really served as golden handcuffs for the executives.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
velvet handcuffs
Cite this entry
APA

golden handcuffs. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/golden%20handcuffs

MLA

“golden handcuffs.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/golden%20handcuffs. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “golden handcuffs,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/golden%20handcuffs.

Source: golden handcuffs on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.