golden ticket

noun

A qualification, person or thing that can provide positive opportunities.

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Meanings

noungolden ticket (plural golden tickets)

plural golden tickets

  1. idiomaticA qualification, person or thing that can provide positive opportunities.

    So the Harvard diploma is now, more than ever, a golden ticket to a certain kind of success.

    1998, Harvard Magazine, Volume 101, page 67
    2 more examples

    The shiny brass trumpet that Pop bought was his golden ticket out of Poorville and onto the streets of the three F's Fame, Fortune and Freedom.

    2006, Ange Picillo, How I Became the President of the Self-Centered Club for Men, page 2

    A staffer handed me the coveted golden ticket, indicating that I had been invited to Hollywood, and I danced out the door.

    2010, Melinda Doolittle, Ken Abraham, Beyond Me, ZONDERVAN, unnumbered page

Origin

From golden + ticket; from golden referring to something valuable or desirable and ticket as something necessary for obtaining something. Popularized by the winning tickets in Roald Dahl's 1964 book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

golden ticket. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/golden%20ticket

MLA

“golden ticket.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/golden%20ticket. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “golden ticket,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/golden%20ticket.

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