see through rose-colored glasses

Idioms & Phrases

see through rose-colored glasses

Also, look through rose-colored glasses. Take an optimistic view of something, as in Kate enjoys just about every activity; she sees the world through rose-colored glasses, or If only Marvin wouldn't be so critical, if he could look through rose-colored glasses once in a while, he'd be much happier. The adjectives rosy and rose-colored have been used in the sense of "hopeful" or "optimistic" since the 1700s; the current idiom dates from the 1850s.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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