career

UK/kəˈɹɪə//kəˈɹɪɹ/

career noun: one’s calling in life; one's working occupation or profession, especially when pursued seriously or over a long period of time.

Noun

career (plural careers)

One’s calling in life; one's working occupation or profession, especially when pursued seriously or over a long period of time.
- When they’ve tortured and scared you for twenty-odd years, / Then they expect you to pick a career1971, “Working Class Hero”, in John Lennon (lyrics), John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band, performed by John Lennon
The course, evolution, and ongoing advancement of one's working life, especially in one particular field.
- Washington’s career as a soldier
- This scandal could ruin his career.
The general course of one's action or conduct in life, or in a particular area of life.
- As I explored the possibility of a library science path, having previously been employed in libraries during my school career and afterwards, I decided that I needed to actually experience work in a library setting full time again […]2002, Priscilla K. Shontz, Steven J. Oberg, Jump Start Your Career in Library and Information Science, page 21
(archaic) Speed.
- What rein can hold licentious wickedness
  When down the hill he holds his fierce career?c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, act 3, scene 3
- when a horse is running in his full career1648, John Wilkins, Mathematicall Magick. Or, The Wonders that may be Performed by Mechanicall Geometry. […], London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Sa[muel] Gellibrand […], →OCLC
A jouster's path during a joust.
- These knights, therefore, their aim being thus eluded, rushed from opposite sides betwixt the object of their attack and the Templar, almost running their horses against each other ere they could stop their career.1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co....
(obsolete) A short gallop of a horse.
- It is said of Cæsar […] that in his youth being mounted upon a horse, and without any bridle, he made him run a full cariere [tr. carriere], make a sodaine stop, and with his hands behind his backe performe what ever can be expected of an excellent ready horse.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 48, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
- Such littleness damps the heat, and weakens the force of genius; as we check a horse in his career, and rein him in when we want him to amble1756, William Guthrie (translator), Of Eloquence (originally by Quintillian)
The flight of a hawk.
(obsolete) A racecourse; the ground run over.
- to think of going back again the same careera. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London...

Verb

career (third-person singular simple present careers, present participle careering, simple past and past participle careered)

To move rapidly straight ahead, especially in an uncontrolled way.
- The car careered down the road, missed the curve, and went through a hedge.
- He likens the story of his 20s to “a fully fuelled jumbo jet just reaching take-off point and having to slam on the brakes. You’ve got this enormous bloody thing careering off the end of the runway, through the fence, through the house next door, bursting into flames and me crawling out and...2003 October 16, Emma Brockes, quoting DBC Pierre, “How did I get here?”, in The Guardian
Synonyms:

careen

Adjective

career (not comparable)

Doing something professionally, for a living (generally said of something that is not a commonplace job, e.g. criminal activity).
- a career burglar
- Studies on homeless income find that the typical “career panhandler” who dedicates his time overwhelmingly to begging can make between $600 and $1,500 a month.2012, Arthur Gillard, Homelessness, page 38
(broadly) Synonym of serial (“doing something regularly”).
- a career rapist
Synonyms:

serial

career meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

career in Hindi

one's calling in life; a person's occupation: आजीविका ājīvikā, जीवक jīvak

career in Tamil

தொழிற் துறை, தொழில் வாழ்க்கை, விரை செலவு, பாய்வு, வாழ்க்கைப் போக்கு, வாழ்தொழில்

career in Urdu

one's calling in life; a person's occupation: مَشْغَلَہ maśġala, کَرِیئَر karīar

More languagesFewer languages

career in Bengali: পেশা, বৃত্তি, চরিত, বেগ
career in Telugu: కెరీర్
career in Malayalam: ഔദ്യോഗികജീവിതം, തൊഴിൽ, ജീവിതചര്യ, ക്രമം
career in Kannada: ಜೀವನೋಪಾಯ, ವೃತ್ತಿಜೀವನ, ಕಸಬು, ವೃತ್ತಿ
career in Punjabi: ਕੈਰੀਅਰ, ਕਰੀਅਰ
career in Gujarati: કારકિર્દી kārkirdī
career in Odia: କ୍ଯ଼ାରିଯ଼ର, କ୍ଯ଼ାରିଅର, କ୍ଯ଼ାରିଅର୍
career in Nepali: करियर, क्यारियर
career in Tagalog: karera
career in Arabic: مِهْنَة mihna, مسار مهني, مَسِيرَة masīra
career in Malay: karier, kerjaya
career in Indonesian: karier
career in Thai: อาชีพ aa-chîip, การงาน gaan-ngaan
career in Vietnamese: nghề nghiệp

Examples of career in a sentence

He regretted focusing on his career to the exclusion of his family.
Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake’s neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies.2012 January, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 23 May...
It may be admitted that Democracy, in all meanings of the word, is in full career; irresistible by any Ritter Kauderwalsch or other Son of Adam, as times go.1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “chapter XIII, Democracy”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and...
You’ve got this enormous bloody thing careering off the end of the runway, through the fence, through the house next door, bursting into flames and me crawling out and scraping my wounds for 10 years.2003 October 16, Emma Brockes, quoting DBC Pierre, “How did I get here?”, in The Guardian:
Many of the coaches behind it overturned and careered into an adjacent field.2021 February 24, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, page 39:

All 40 example sentences with career

Synonyms of career

Forms of career

Noun
plural	careers
Verb
third-person singular present	careers
present participle	careering
past participle	careered
past	careered

Plural of career: careers

Origin of career

Mid 16th century, from French carrière (“road; racecourse”), from Italian carriera, from Old Occitan carreira, from Late Latin carrāria based on Latin carrus (“wheeled vehicle”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós, from *ḱers- (“to run”); alternatively, from Middle French carriere, from Old Occitan.

Words formed from career

Phrases with career

3 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with career

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about career

What does career mean?: Career means one’s calling in life; one's working occupation or profession, especially when pursued seriously or over a long period of time.
What is career in Hindi?: Career in Hindi is आजीविका (ājīvikā), जीवक (jīvak). See Career meaning in Hindi.
How do you use career in a sentence?: He regretted focusing on his career to the exclusion of his family.
What part of speech is career?: Career can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce career?: Career is pronounced /kəˈɹɪə/ (UK).
What is the plural of career?: The plural of career is careers.

Words near career in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: career (page history and authors); career (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); career (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); career (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); career (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); career (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); career (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); career (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); career (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); career (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-career.ogg.

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