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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

careerism

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

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

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

I wanted, however, something more from the new middle-class institution than either the decadent romanticism of the sixties or the careerism of the seventies.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez

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