rose-colored glasses

rose-colored glasses

English

Alternative forms

• rose-coloured glasses (non-US)
• rose-tinted glasses, rose-colored lenses
• rose-coloured spectacles, rose-tinted spectacles (Britain)

Etymology

Phrase appears as early as 1830 according to OED.[1]

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

rose-colored glasses pl (plural only) (American spelling)

1. (idiomatic) An optimistic perception of something; a positive opinion; seeing something in a positive way, often thinking of it as better than it actually is.
   • 2020 October 13, Beatrice Loayza, “Jack London gets an Italian makeover in the tragic and romantic Martin Eden”, in AV Club:

     Such captivating beauty corresponds to our protagonist’s naive idealism, and the rose-colored glasses through which he views an upper-crust world of dandies and refined intellectuals.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see rose-colored,‎ glasses.

Derived terms

• look through rose-colored glasses
• see through rose-colored glasses
• view through rose-colored glasses
• wear rose-colored glasses

 

Translations

overly optimistic perception of something

Czech: růžové brýle f pl Danish: rose bril c Estonian: roosad prillid pl Finnish: ruusunpunaiset silmälasit pl French: lunettes roses (fr) f sg German: rosarote Brille f sg Irish: spéaclaí bándearg m pl Italian: gli occhi di un bambino m pl, occhi di bambino m pl Japanese: 色眼鏡 (いろめがね, iro megane) (also “overly negative perception”) Polish: różowe okulary nvir Russian: ро́зовые очки́ n pl (rózovyje očkí) Scottish Gaelic: speuclairean bàn-dhearg m pl, speuclairean pinc m pl Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) svijetla strana medalje f pl Spanish: gafas violeta f pl, gafas rosadas f pl Welsh: sbectol-lliw rhosyn f sg

References

1. “rose-tinted spectacles”, in TheFreeDictionary.com‎, Farlex, Inc, 2015, archived from the original on 2021-06-13, retrieved 5 June 2022