Word of the Day
: February 18, 2026Goldilocks
playWhat It Means
Goldilocks describes something that has or produces an optimal balance usually between two extremes. In astronomy, it specifically designates an area of planetary orbit neither too hot nor too cold to support life.
// The couple, undecided between country and city living, took the Goldilocks option and moved to a bustling college town surrounded by nature.
Goldilocks in Context
"It's a well-known fact that the time between 3 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon is a liminal space. ... It's too late for lunch, too early for dinner. But it's the Goldilocks hour for a little treat." — Nikita Richardson, The New York Times, 8 May 2025
Did You Know?
English has always drawn inspiration from fables and fairy tales, stories bursting with metaphors that help users get their verbiage just right: one may fall down a rabbit hole (thank you, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), cry wolf (we see you, Aesop's Fables), or hope one day to meet one's Prince Charming (brava, Cinderella). The adjective Goldilocks is borrowed, of course, from Goldilocks and the Three Bears, a perennial favorite in which a little girl so-named for her golden hair finds the perfect balance between hot and cold, soft and hard, small and large—all in the home of unknowing strangers. Since the mid-1960s, English speakers have applied Goldilocks to all things regarded as perfectly balanced or happily medium. The word has specific applications in astronomy, with the phrase "Goldilocks zone" designating an area of planetary orbit in which temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold to support life.
Test Your Vocabulary with M-W Quizzes
Test Your Vocabulary
Rearrange the letters to form a word that refers to a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle: LREAPBA
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