Definition
A qualification, person or thing that can provide positive opportunities.
Origins
From golden + ticket; from golden referring to something valuable or desirable and ticket as something necessary for obtaining something. Popularized by the winning tickets in Roald Dahl's 1964 book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
In Context
- "So the Harvard diploma is now, more than ever, a golden ticket to a certain kind of success."
- "The shiny brass trumpet that Pop bought was his golden ticket out of Poorville and onto the streets of the three F's Fame, Fortune and Freedom."
- "A staffer handed me the coveted golden ticket, indicating that I had been invited to Hollywood, and I danced out the door."