golden handcuffs

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“The golden handcuffs aren’t so golden anymore,” said Stephanie Geveda, who previously oversaw business-services investing at private-equity firm Warburg Pincus.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 20, 2025

According to Leo Peak, a real estate agent at Peak Family Real Estate Group, many homeowners are currently feeling the "golden handcuffs" effect of being locked into their homes by historically low mortgage rates.

From Salon • Apr. 5, 2025

“Because of high interest rates,” he said, “there’s no mobility out of rental situations to buy homes. Everyone is stuck — homeowners with golden handcuffs, renters basically with unadorned handcuffs.”

From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2024

Based solely on their earning power, a more “authentic” lifestyle would be a more modest one, but instead this looked as if they had traded a pair of golden handcuffs for a diamond bedroom set.

From Washington Post • Dec. 16, 2022

The dignitary lifted the golden handcuffs from the pillow upon which they reposed.

From The Chessmen of Mars by Burroughs, Edgar Rice