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 film stars Mikey Madison as a Russian-speaking New York City stripper caught up in a whirlwind affair with the son of an oligarch and desperate to hold onto her shot at the American dream.
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Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 21 Sep. 2024
Criminal psychology, family dynamics, and the American dream are among its chief preoccupations; the shows share a pessimism about these topics that felt revelatory at the turn of the century.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 19 Sep. 2024
For fans of Educated by Tara Westover and The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande, My Side of the River explores separation, generational trauma, and the toll of the American dream.
—Sarah Yang, Sunset Magazine, 15 Sep. 2024
The first half does have the exhilarating upward sweep of the American dream immigrant saga, but then the second half very much complicates that mythology.
—Patrick Brzeski, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for the American dream 
Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 21 Sep. 2024
Criminal psychology, family dynamics, and the American dream are among its chief preoccupations; the shows share a pessimism about these topics that felt revelatory at the turn of the century.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 19 Sep. 2024
For fans of Educated by Tara Westover and The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande, My Side of the River explores separation, generational trauma, and the toll of the American dream.
—Sarah Yang, Sunset Magazine, 15 Sep. 2024
The first half does have the exhilarating upward sweep of the American dream immigrant saga, but then the second half very much complicates that mythology.
—Patrick Brzeski, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for the American dream
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'the American dream.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“The American dream.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20American%20dream. Accessed 6 Oct. 2024.
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