Word.ws English Dictionary

Gilded Age

Gilded Age proper noun: the period of United States history from the end of the Civil War to the end of the 19th century, a time marked by rapid economic expansion, a lack of government regulation, and rampant corruption.

Proper noun

the Gilded Age

  1. The period of United States history from the end of the Civil War to the end of the 19th century, a time marked by rapid economic expansion, a lack of government regulation, and rampant corruption.
    • Here the Gilded Age had found its music published and here the dawning jazz age would break into general consciousness.2007, John Ogasapian, N. Lee Orr, Music of the Gilded Age, page 149
    • Under Spofford's vigorous stewardship and astute guidance over a thirty-two year period from 1865 to 1897 that encompassed most of the Gilded Age, the Library of Congress greatly expanded its services to Congress and to the country.2009, Leonard Schlup, Stephen H. Paschen, Librarianship in Gilded Age America, page 4

Examples of Gilded Age in a sentence

  • Professor Reitano reexamines an issue that roiled the political and intellectual waters of the Gilded Age in ways difficult to conceive today.2010, Joanne Reitano, Tariff Question in the Gilded Age: The Great Debate Of 1888, page ix:
  • Piketty and his colleagues have added a great deal of historical depth to our knowledge, demonstrating that we really are living in a new Gilded Age.2014 April 25, Paul Krugman, “The Piketty Panic”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
  • During the Gilded Age, many observers in the United States worried that the country was becoming increasingly inegalitarian and moving farther and farther away from its original pioneering ideal.2017 [2013], Thomas Piketty, translated by Arthur Goldhammer, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Belknap Press, →ISBN, page 506:
  • This New Gilded Age has found an epicenter in Los Angeles, particularly where Bel-Air, Beverly Hills and Holmby Hills converge.2017 December 23, Candace Jackson, “Who Wants to Buy the Most Expensive House in America?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Origin of Gilded Age

Coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner as the title of a novel published in 1873.

Questions about Gilded Age

What does Gilded Age mean?
Gilded Age means the period of United States history from the end of the Civil War to the end of the 19th century, a time marked by rapid economic expansion, a lack of government regulation, and rampant corruption.
How do you use Gilded Age in a sentence?
Professor Reitano reexamines an issue that roiled the political and intellectual waters of the Gilded Age in ways difficult to conceive today.
What part of speech is Gilded Age?
Gilded Age is a proper noun.

Words near Gilded Age in the dictionary

  1. Gilday
  2. Gildays
  3. Gildea
  4. Gildeas
  5. gilded
  6. Gilded Age
  7. gilded cage
  8. gilded cages
  9. Gilded Chamber
  10. gilded flicker
  11. gilded flickers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Gilded Age (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Gilded Age.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gilded_age. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.