career
Americannoun
-
careers
plural
-
an occupation or profession, especially one requiring special training, followed as one's lifework.
He sought a career as a lawyer.
-
a person's progress or general course of action through life or through a phase of life, as in some profession or undertaking.
His career as a soldier ended with the armistice.
- Synonyms:
- livelihood, lifework, work, calling, vocation
-
success in a profession, occupation, etc.
-
a course, especially a swift one.
-
speed, especially full speed.
The horse stumbled in full career.
-
Archaic. a charge at full speed.
verb (used without object)
-
careers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
careered,
past participle, past
-
careering
present participle
adjective
noun
-
a path or progress through life or history
-
a profession or occupation chosen as one's life's work
-
(modifier) having or following a career as specified
a career diplomat
-
a course or path, esp a swift or headlong one
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
careersimple
-
careerssimple
-
have careeredperfect
-
has careeredperfect
-
am careeringprogressive
-
are careeringprogressive
-
is careeringprogressive
-
have been careeringperfect progressive
-
has been careeringperfect progressive
Past
-
careeredsimple
-
had careeredperfect
-
was careeringprogressive
-
were careeringprogressive
-
had been careeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of career
First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle French carriere, from Old Provençal carriera, literally, “road,” from Late Latin carrāria (via) “vehicular (road),” equivalent to Latin carr(us) “wagon” ( see car 1) + -āria (feminine of -ārius -ary )
Explanation
You may have to take jobs as a dog walker, cat groomer, and fish feeder before you complete school for a career as a veterinarian. Small jobs in the short term give you experience for a long-term career. Career comes from the French carrière, from an older word for "street" or "road." Staying on track for a certain career is like driving a car in one direction on a road, instead of veering in different directions. Maybe the expression "career path" is helpful in remembering that a career is something that progresses, or moves forward on a set path. It can also be used as a verb to describe something moving quickly and uncontrollably, like a car careering into a ditch.
Vocabulary lists containing career
Can I Work It? Words for "Job"
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"Creativity at Work" and "The Hidden Secrets of the Creative Mind"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Academy Awards, List 5
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Even with the advantages into which they were born, their career was not easily won; it was earned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
"There are little things you learn throughout your career," he says.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
He managed at five different plants in Mexico for about two years each earlier in his career.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
“Besides the fact that they were both hands-on with our career, these are two people who were our besties,” BG recounts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Burr’s facile shift in his allegiance, the first in what would be several similarly agile switches during his career, captured Hamilton’s attention and produced his first recorded anti-Burr remarks, questioning Burr’s lack of political principle.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
When he became ill and died shortly thereafter, the sisters’ lives and careers ground to a halt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
The 1979 movie version, a landmark of the Aussie New Wave, established the careers of director Gillian Armstrong, actress Judy Davis and the recently departed New Zealander Sam Neill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
An offbeat comedy about two friends trying to break into the then-emergent world of music videos, the film stars John Cusack and Tim Robbins just as their careers were starting to take off.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
The result is a league capable of offering competitive salaries, passionate fanbases and European football to players entering the latter stages of their careers.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
People just weren’t interested in careers in domestic service anymore.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
The vehicle careered off the road and rolled down the mountainside before coming to rest in a field below.
From BBC ● May 20, 2026
The driver was arrested after the vehicle careered from a main square down a major city centre street, close to historic sites.
From Barron's ● May 4, 2026
In the latest incident in Leipzig, a Volkswagen Taigo car careered from a major square in the old town down a busy pedestrian zone, travelling hundreds of metres.
From Barron's ● May 4, 2026
Her Citroen C1 careered down an embankment and hit a tree 33 days after she passed her test, the court heard.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2023
Joaquin leaned his body to the left as he careered down the hill toward the arts center.
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
The accident, which saw the picture-postcard 19th-century Gloria tramway hurtle into a building after careering off the rails, shocked the Portuguese capital, laying bare fears over the safety of the popular yet ageing tourist attraction.
From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2025
The club doesn’t intend to keep careering ahead this way forever.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2025
Only after that point could turmoil begin: It was shattered by an impact and shifted outward to the asteroid belt, where subsequent impacts would have formed the Athor family and sent some careering toward Earth.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 16, 2024
With this show, the director “takes an established musical by the scruff of the neck and sends it careering into the modern day,” Wolf added.
From New York Times ● Apr. 14, 2024
After its path is further changed by gravitational encounters with Jupiter or Saturn, it tends to find itself, once every century or so, careering toward the inner solar system.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
