career
Pluralcareers
Verbcareers, careering, careered
Pluralcareers
Formscareers, careering, careered
- 1The kind of work someone does for many years, and how they move forward in it.
Like a long road you travel through your working life.
She built a long career as a nurse.
He changed careers when he turned forty.
UsageSay a career in something or a career as a nurse.
Note
- 2To move very fast, often out of control.
Like a ball rolling fast down a steep hill.
The car careered down the hill and into a fence.
Skiers career down the slope at terrifying speeds.
UsageUsually with a direction: the car careered down the hill.
Similarcareen
Note
- 3
- 4Doing a kind of work as a long-term job, such as a soldier, a diplomat, or even a criminal.
Like saying someone is a full-time player, not just a weekend one.
The police arrested a career criminal with a long record.
He became a career thief at a young age.
UsagePut it before a job word: a career soldier, a career criminal.
Similarprofessional
Oppositeamateur
Note
Less common meanings
- 5Doing something again and again, in a regular or repeated way.
Like someone who is always doing the same thing, over and over.
He's a career complainer who finds fault with everything.
The committee had to deal with a career troublemaker.
UsageBefore a word for a habit: a career complainer complains all the time.
Similarserial
Note
- 6The high speed at which something is moving.
when a horse is running in his full career
1648, John Wilkins, Mathematical MagickHere, career means full speed, a horse running as fast as it can.What rein can hold licentious wickedness When down the hill he holds his fierce career?
c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry VNote
- 7A short burst of galloping by a horse.
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 amble
1756, William Guthrie (translator), Of Eloquence (originally by Quintillian)Here, career means a short, fast gallop by a horse.Note
- 8The track or ground that runners or horses race over.
to think of going back again the same career
a. 1587, Philip Sidney, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia]Here, career means a racecourse, the stretch of ground just covered.Note
- 9The straight path a knight rides along when charging at an opponent in 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, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. - 10The flight of a hawk, or its path through the air.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
It came into English in the mid 1500s from French, where it meant a road or racecourse. It goes back to Latin 'carrus', meaning a wheeled vehicle.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The word entered English in the mid 1500s. en.wiktionary.org
- English borrowed it from French, where it meant road or racecourse. en.wiktionary.org
- The word ultimately derives from Latin carrus. en.wikipedia.org
- Latin carrus means a wheeled vehicle. en.wiktionary.org