English Explanatory Dictionary

career

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. One’s calling in life; one's working occupation or profession, especially when pursued seriously or over a long period of time.
  2. The course, evolution, and ongoing advancement of one's working life, especially in one particular field.
  3. The general course of one's action or conduct in life, or in a particular area of life.
  4. Speed.
  5. A jouster's path during a joust.
  6. A short gallop of a horse.
  7. The flight of a hawk.
  8. A racecourse; the ground run over.
verb
  1. To move rapidly straight ahead, especially in an uncontrolled way.
adj
  1. Doing something professionally, for a living (generally said of something that is not a commonplace job, e.g. criminal activity).
  2. Synonym of serial (“doing something regularly”).

Pronunciation

/kəˈɹɪə/ /kəˈɹɪɹ/ /kəˈɹɪ.ɚ/ en-us-career.ogg /kəˈrɪjə(r)/ /ˈkarɪjə(r)/

Word forms

career careers careering careered

Etymology

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.

Synonyms

careen serial

Derived words

aftercareer career break career change career changer career criminal career-defining careerer career expo career fair career girl career guide careerism careerist careerless careerlike career-limiting move careerlong careerman career man career politician careership careers officer career suicide careerwise career woman careerwoman dual career couple make a career of make a career out of midcareer multicareer noncareer portfolio career postcareer
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