Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A chosen pursuit; a profession or occupation.
- noun The general course or progression of one's working life or one's professional achievements.
- noun A path or course, as of the sun through the heavens.
- noun Speed.
- adjective Doing what one does as a permanent occupation or lifework.
- intransitive verb To move forward at high speed, often with minimal control.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The ground on which a race is run; a race-course; hence, course; path; way.
- noun A charge or run at full speed, as in justing.
- noun General course of action or movement; procedure; course of proceeding; a specific course of action or occupation forming the object of one's life: as, “honour's fair career,” Dryden.
- noun [Sometimes used absolutely to signify a definite or conspicuous career of some kind: as, a man with a career before him.]
- noun In the manège, a place inclosed with a barrier, in which to run the ring.
- noun In falconry, a flight or tour of the hawk, about 120 yards.
- noun A prison; a lock-up; especially, one in a German school or university.
- noun One of the 8 to 12 stalls, closed with bars, from which races were started in a Roman circus. They were arranged with slanting axes in order not to give an unfair advantage to any competitor.
- To move or run rapidly, as if in a race or charge.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To move or run rapidly.
- noun A race course: the ground run over.
- noun A running; full speed; a rapid course.
- noun General course of action or conduct in life, or in a particular part or calling in life, or in some special undertaking; usually applied to course or conduct which is of a public character.
- noun (Falconry) The flight of a hawk.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun One's calling in life; a person's
occupation ; one'sprofession . - noun An individual’s work and life roles over their lifespan.
- noun archaic
speed - noun A
jouster's path during ajoust . - verb To move rapidly straight ahead, especially in an
uncontrolled way.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the particular occupation for which you are trained
- noun the general progression of your working or professional life
- verb move headlong at high speed
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word career.
Examples
-
I know that when I'm advising students, and they are fretting about career choices, and I ask them, what do you *want* to do with your life -- what do you think will make you happy, most of them, I'd say maybe 70% of them, give me this blank stare: as if *happiness* and *career* could have nothing to do with each other.
American Values delagar 2007
-
I know that when I'm advising students, and they are fretting about career choices, and I ask them, what do you *want* to do with your life -- what do you think will make you happy, most of them, I'd say maybe 70% of them, give me this blank stare: as if *happiness* and *career* could have nothing to do with each other.
Archive 2007-03-01 delagar 2007
-
I have a warm interest in your happiness and career -- yes, _career_ -- I repeat the word.
Ernest Maltravers — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838
-
Madrid Number 9 Youth career 19931995 Andorinha 19951997 Nacional 19972001 Sporting CP Senior career* Years Team Apps ‡ (Gls) ‡ 20012003 Sporting CP 25 (3) 20032009 Manchester United 196
WN.com - Articles related to Cruyff hands in Barcelona club badge 2010
-
In light of trying to distinguish true democrats from 'corporate democrats' maybe for this Denver mayor's race, the term 'career politician' is actually a good thing in the case of Hancock, Linkhart and Mejia -- meaning we know where you have been working, and it has been in a public arena, not in private backroom deals.
Wade Norris: Denver's Mayoral Race -- Pay to Play? Wade Norris 2011
-
In light of trying to distinguish true democrats from 'corporate democrats' maybe for this Denver mayor's race, the term 'career politician' is actually a good thing in the case of Hancock, Linkhart and Mejia -- meaning we know where you have been working, and it has been in a public arena, not in private backroom deals.
Wade Norris: Denver's Mayoral Race -- Pay to Play? Wade Norris 2011
-
Romney's critics point out that he might have earned the label "career politician" had he not lost his 1994 Senate race.
The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post Philip Rucker 2011
-
Romney's critics point out that he might have earned the label "career politician" had he not lost his 1994 Senate race.
The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post Philip Rucker 2011
-
The for-profit industry, which prefers the term "career colleges" or "proprietary" schools, grew rapidly over the last decade amid renewed calls to increase the nation's college graduation rate and a need to help laid-off workers find new careers.
FOXNews.com 2011
-
The word career derives from the French word carrière, meaning a racecourse.
sera commented on the word career
"Move headlong at high speed"
compare to careen - "Walk as if unable to control one's movements"
August 13, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word career
Indeed, I was just reading about this! See comments on careen, and also the following:
"In today's competitive business world, no one would be surprised to learn that career has its roots in horse racing. However, there may have been a time when one's career had more in common with a track than with a race. Career comes from the French word carrière, 'race course,' which entered Old French from Old Provençal carriera, 'street,' and goes back to carrus, the Latin word for a type of wagon. Carrus comes from Gaulish, the language of the Celtic tribes that inhabited the area that is now France both before and during the period of the Roman Empire. The Gaulish word is ultimately from the Indo-European root *kers-, 'to run,' which is also the source of the Latin verb currere, 'to run,' from which English ultimately gets such words as courier.
"In early use, career had such senses as 'race course,' 'a short gallop at full speed,' 'a rapid course,' and 'the moment of peak activity.' It appears that the sense 'a profession' originated in French carrière, which never acquired the English connotation of haste. Subsequent to the borrowing of English career in the 16th century, carrière came to mean 'the course of the stars and planets through the sky,' 'the course of one's life,' and 'the course of one's profession.' This ultimate sense became associated with the English word in the 19th century, and dotay stands appropriately alongside the native sense 'to rush.'"
--More Word Histories and Mysteries, From Aardvark to Zombie, from the Editors of the American Heritage (r) Dictionaries, 2006.
December 31, 2007
sakhalinskii commented on the word career
"The difference between a job and a career is the difference between forty and sixty hours a week" - Robert Frost
July 30, 2008