hamster wheel
Americannoun
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a cylindrical framework, usually within a cage, that is rotated by a hamster or other small animal running inside of it.
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any situation that seems to be endlessly without goal or achievement.
Etymology
Origin of hamster wheel
First recorded in 1945–50
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.
The number is what gets you off the hamster wheel of anxiety every time you see another layoff headline.
From MarketWatch • May 15, 2026
It is a recognition that the current system has led to an ever-spinning hamster wheel of tax rise speculation.
From BBC • Nov. 24, 2025
All too often, the financial industry lures us onto the hamster wheel of chasing high returns, where we have to run so fast we never even notice what we pay to play.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025
When circus-goers witness acts like a triple somersault on the trapeze or spinning in a human hamster wheel without a harness, they see a fleeting moment that is said to have divine impact.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 19, 2024
Percy ducked behind a giant hamster wheel and scanned the room, looking for the boxes he’d seen in his dream.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
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.
