Meanings
- pluralplural onlyA period of time in the distant past when things were better or fondly remembered.
In the good old days we could go to the gasworks and buy coke.
2 more examples
Well, the good old days may not return / And the rocks might melt and the sea may burn
1991, “Learning to Fly”, in Into the Great Wide Open, performed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers"He's been waiting to jump my brain-bones since I left R&E. I could feel him hammering on the door." She trotted to the nearest wall and knocked on it for emphasis. "But whatever it is that makes us remember the good old days, it also makes us impossible to possess now. That's why Willie and I both woke up, and why Noè never got taken out by Mukami. So all I had to do was open my mind up to the guy, invite him in, then... gas the foyer, as it were."
2023 October 14, HarryBlank, “Face Time”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 23 May 2024Synonyms: golden age, golden days, heyday
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA period of time in the distant past when things were better or fondly remembered.
More synonyms by meaning
nounpast times remembered with nostalgia
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Afrikaans goeie ou dae
- goeie ou daethe past, seen as a time when things were better
Arabic الزَّمَن الجَمِيل
- الزَّمَن الجَمِيل (az-zaman al-jamīl)the past, seen as a time when things were better
Finnish vanhat hyvät ajat
- vanhat hyvät ajatthe past, seen as a time when things were better
French bon vieux temps
- bon vieux tempsthe past, seen as a time when things were better
Hungarian régi szép idők
- régi szép időkthe past, seen as a time when things were better
Polish stare, dobre czasy
- stare, dobre czasythe past, seen as a time when things were better
Russian ста́рые до́брые времена́
- ста́рые до́брые времена́ (stáryje dóbryje vremená)the past, seen as a time when things were better
Spanish año catapum
- año catapumthe past, seen as a time when things were better
Swedish gamla goda tiden
- gamla goda tidenthe past, seen as a time when things were better
Cite this entry
good old days. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/good%20old%20days
“good old days.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/good%20old%20days. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “good old days,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/good%20old%20days.
Source: good old days on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.