golden handcuffs
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A situation where an employee is paid well but has limited freedom
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Tình huống nhân viên được trả lương cao nhưng có quyền tự do hạn chế
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: shackles made of gold
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The high salary was golden handcuffs, keeping her in a job she didn't like
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “golden handcuffs” mean?
A situation where an employee is paid well but has limited freedom Literally: shackles made of gold
Is “golden handcuffs” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.