Meaning & use
gold
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Meanings
noununcountablechemistry
A soft, heavy, yellow metal that does not rust and is valued for jewelry, coins, and electronics.
Grammar: Used without a: a ring made of gold.
Patterns
- made of gold
- gold in something
The ring is made of solid gold.
Miners searched the river for flecks of gold.
The price of gold rose sharply last year.
adjectivebefore a noun
Having the shiny yellow color of the metal, or made of it.
Grammar: Comes before the noun: a gold watch; a gold-colored one.
Patterns
- a gold something
She wore a gold necklace to the wedding.
The wall was painted a warm gold shade.
He hung a gold star on the tree.
nouncountable or uncountablesport
A gold medal, the prize for first place in a contest.
Grammar: Used with win and take: she won gold.
Patterns
- win gold
- take gold
- gold in something
She won gold in the hundred-meter race.
Our team took gold at the national finals.
He has two golds from the last Games.
noununcountableinformalfigurative
Something very good, valuable, or worth keeping, said informally of a joke, advice, or performance.
Grammar: Often in the phrases pure gold or comedy gold.
Patterns
- pure gold
- comedy gold
The old photographs she found were pure gold.
His reaction to the surprise was comedy gold.
That advice is gold; write it down.
Word forms
| plural | golds |
|---|
Common combinations
- solid gold
- The trophy is made of solid gold.
- win gold
- She hopes to win gold at the championship.
- gold medal
- The gold medal hung from a red ribbon.
- gold rush
- The gold rush drew thousands of miners west.
- pure gold
- His joke was pure gold.
- gold leaf
- The book's title was pressed in gold leaf.
Synonyms and how they differ
- golden
- Golden describes color or things that are happy or excellent, while gold usually names the metal itself.
- yellow
- Yellow is a plain color word and does not suggest a metallic shine the way gold does.
- bullion
- Bullion means gold or silver in bars, valued by weight, rather than gold in general.
- treasure
- Treasure covers any valuable collection and does not require the metal.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: gold or gilt?
gold vs gilt
Gilt means covered with a thin layer of gold, whereas gold can mean solid gold.
Practice
She trained for years, and at the Games she finally won ___ in the final.
Choose one answer.
Gold here is a noun for the gold medal. Golden and gilded are adjectives, and gilt describes surface covering, so none can follow win.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “gold”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.