rat race

American  

noun

Informal.

1. any exhausting, unremitting, and usually competitive activity or routine, especially a pressured urban working life spent trying to get ahead with little time left for leisure, contemplation, etc.

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rat race British  

noun

1. a continual routine of hectic competitive activity

   working in the City is a real rat race

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rat race Idioms  

1. Fierce competition to maintain or improve one's position in the workplace or social life. For example, You may not realize what a rat race it is to get research grants. This term presumably alludes to the rat's desperate struggle for survival. [Colloquial; first half of 1900s]

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Etymology

Origin of rat race

An Americanism dating back to 1935–40

Example Sentences

China’s industrial rat race helped power the country’s economic miracle.

From The Wall Street Journal

Despite the show's heist element, Madekwe says it has "such a relatable story of feeling trapped in a rat race".

From BBC

But Dharmendra wore his stardom lightly, staying away from the rat race and said he never wanted to be number one in the industry.

From BBC

Yet the pressures - the ones that are pushing more Chinese youth to quit the rat race, "lie flat" and take their frustrations out online - remain.

From BBC

Imagine this: After years of toiling in the Southern California rat race, you buy a parcel of land in the high desert.

From Los Angeles Times