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"
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"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
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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:
But Knot’s position softened over time and he is now seen as a middle-of-the-road pragmatist who would be more responsive to bond-market tremors than earlier in his career.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
It is the first time in his career that he has made 11 birdies in a single round of a DP World Tour event.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
“A company with stronger financial backing may have more room to provide extended salary coverage, healthcare benefits, and career transition support.”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
The experience helped shape a political career dedicated to improving the lives of working families, particularly coal miners, veterans and children.
From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026
In his youth, Gogolev had been a dancer until an injury ended his once-promising career, or so he often claimed.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
"This was his last big election and they all say, that all political careers end in failure."
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
Freshman screenwriting majors Teddy Abularach and Mitch Linebaugh had recently moved to L.A. from New York City and Des Moines, respectively, to pursue careers in screenwriting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
The findings have even prompted some of the researchers to reconsider ideas they held throughout their careers.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 1, 2026
The author of “Shakespeare at Thirty” on spies, massacres, pirates, poets and the patrons who made literary careers possible.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Some jockeys took two hundred or more falls in their careers.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Two systems that could have slowed an Amazon Air flight that crashed in Miami over the weekend weren’t deployed before the plane careered off a runway and crashed into nearby vehicles, investigators said late Tuesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Their running total of transfer fees long since careered past the £25m mark.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 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
"The jury and the organisers have decided to stop the race," they said as Austria's Nina Ortlieb and Marte Monsen of Norway had also careered off-piste.
From Barron's ● Jan. 30, 2026
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
Early in the Premier League game between Sheffield United and Brighton last month, the Sheffield United defender Mason Holgate went careering into Kaoru Mitoma, Brighton’s dazzling winger.
From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2024
“It was no more exhausting careering after Jasper on the rocks than it was careering after driftwood on the beach,” I answered.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
