English Explanatory Dictionary

paper ceiling

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An informal (and often unacknowledged) barrier to promotion or advancement, in employment and elsewhere, for people who do not have a university or college degree.

Word forms

paper ceiling

Etymology

paper (a piece of paper being the diploma representing a university or college degree) + ceiling (suggesting a barrier to upward advancement); modeled on glass ceiling, the first of such figurative ceiling terms.

Related words

ceiling paper credentialism sheepskin effect the more you know, the higher you go
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