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An easy and pleasant life; a self-indulgent or hedonistic life; such a life that leads to damnation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- 1902, George Edward Woodberry, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Chapter 2: The Chamber under the Eaves, Cilley, his old college mate, was just elected to Congress from Maine, Pierce was just elected Senator from New Hampshire, and Longfellow had found the ways of literature as smooth as the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire.
- 1911, Frederic Taber Cooper, Preface to The Craftsmanship of Writing, The laurels of authorship are worth the winning largely because there is no primrose path leading to them.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
A deceptively easy or appealing course of action that leads one astray or into error.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
The life of prostitution.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: euphemistic
Examples
- 1902, George Bernard Shaw, The Author's Apology, in (1902 edition of) Mrs Warren's Profession, 2006 Gutenberg eBook edition, Even if these purely official catastrophes carried any conviction, the majority of English girls remain so poor, so dependent, so well aware that the drudgeries of such honest work as is within their reach are likely enough to lead them eventually to lung disease, premature death, and domestic desertion or brutality, that they would still see reason to prefer the primrose path to the strait path of virtue, since both, vice at worst and virtue at best, lead to the same end in poverty and overwork.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
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a life of ease and pleasure
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: way, path, way of life
Coined by William Shakespeare in 1609 in The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, act 1, scene 3: "Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads".
