rose-colored glasses

English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

Phrase appears as early as 1830 according to OED. From rose-color or rose-colored (meaning "pleasant"), from the notion that roses are widely regarded as uncommonly beautiful.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

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

• Catalan: ulleres violetes f pl
• 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 (ja) (いろめがね, iro megane) (also “overly negative perception”)
• Maori: te paki o Hewa
• 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, lentes de color rosa m pl or f pl
• Swedish: (se något i/genom) ett rosa skimmer (literally “(see something in/through) a pink shimmer”)
• Welsh: sbectol-lliw rhosyn f sg