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.

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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

Mazor points out that they were in fact vastly different in temperament, Phil’s pragmatic careerism running counter to Don’s more free-spirited approach.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 18, 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

They are “susceptible to peer pressure, careerism, ambition and fear of cancel culture, just like the rest of us,” he wrote.

From Washington Post • Jan. 29, 2023

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