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 show captures the promise and pain of the American dream, blending fictional stories with real historical figures (like Emma Goldman, the radical political thinker and women’s rights advocate whose activism shaped early 20th-century social movements). —Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 22 Nov. 2025

But in truth, DEI’s core principles are necessary to save lives—and fundamental to the American dream that anyone in the United States can succeed. —Rachel Bergmans, Time, 18 Nov. 2025

For far too many in the already-economically disadvantaged millennial and Gen Z demographics, the American dream is being mortgaged for the thrill of a bet. —MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Nov. 2025

But this trend also tells a dark story about what’s become of the American dream of homeownership. —Sydney Lake, Fortune, 14 Nov. 2025

Rhymes for the American dream

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