careerism

American  

[kuh-reer-iz-uhm] / kəˈrɪər ɪz əm /

noun

1. devotion to a successful career, often at the expense of one's personal life, ethics, etc.

---

Etymology

Origin of careerism

First recorded in 1930–35; career + -ism

Example Sentences

Children are a responsibility: a limitation on us in an age of careerism and radical individualism.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 5, 2025

That kind of careerism should, of course, be considered shameful in the journalism trade and might, in its own strange way, also be considered one of the reasons we find ourselves in our current crisis.

From Salon • Jun. 13, 2025

One KGB document revealed that Golitsyn’s “treason” was very damaging to the KGB and was the result of careerism.

From Washington Times • Jan. 1, 2023

If his dramatic lack of careerism is singular, so too is the motivation behind his work.

From Washington Post • Nov. 3, 2022

Reporters for Time and for CBS informed the nation that a new mood of careerism had seized the campus.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez