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

“Maybe what I need to do is just celebrate all I’ve done instead of getting back into this rat race, on this treadmill, and look for something totally different,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2026

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

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 28, 2026

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 • Nov. 24, 2025

For this Money Talks, it’s time to turn the rat race into a rat walk on the beach.

From Slate • Oct. 1, 2024

Valerie was clearly weary of the rat race.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis