the American dream

noun phrase

variants or the American Dream

: a happy way of living that is thought of by many Americans as something that can be achieved by anyone in the U.S. especially by working hard and becoming successful

With good jobs, a nice house, two children, and plenty of money, they believed they were living the American dream.

Examples of the American dream in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The vast majority of citizens no longer trust that hard work pays off and belief in the American dream has hit a record low. —John Hope Bryant, Time, 6 Sep. 2025

Payam Zamani’s story reads like the American dream—one that begins with his escape from religious persecution in Iran as a teenager and culminates, years later, with ringing the bell at NASDAQ. —Jeff Fromm, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025

Up until June this year Habryn was living what many would call the American dream. —Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 1 Sep. 2025

Accomplished in a bedroom with orange shag carpet and with a crude recording system, Springsteen confronted the dark side of the American dream, as ghosts from his past were catching up to him too quickly for mentor Jon Landau to help beat them back. —Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 30 Aug. 2025

Rhymes for the American dream

• abeam
• airstream
• bloodstream
• daydream
• downstream
• esteem
• extreme
• grapheme
• hakim
• hornbeam
• lexeme
• mainstream