"rat race" meaning in English

See rat race in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-rat race.ogg [Australia] Forms: rat races [plural]
Etymology: rat + race Etymology templates: {{compound|en|rat|race}} rat + race Head templates: {{en-noun}} rat race (plural rat races)
  1. (informal) An activity or situation which is congested with participants and which is hectic or tedious, especially in the context of a busy, modern urban lifestyle. Tags: informal Translations (activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants): rotteræs [neuter] (Danish), oravanpyörä (Finnish), course folle [feminine] (French), Rattenrennen [neuter] (German), hajsza (Hungarian), pozícióharc (Hungarian), mókuskerék (Hungarian), brú carnáin [masculine] (Irish), corsa sfrenata [feminine] (Italian), corsa al successo [feminine] (Italian), competizione sfrenata [feminine] (Italian), rotterace [neuter] (Norwegian), rotteres (Norwegian), wyścig szczurów [masculine] (Polish), крысиные бега (krysinyje bega) [masculine, plural] (Russian), trčanje u kotaču (Serbo-Croatian), ekorrhjul [neuter] (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-rat_race-en-noun-6BavVff6 Disambiguation of 'activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants': 80 3 17
  2. (by extension) The busy, modern urban lifestyle itself, especially when seen as a competition for wealth or power. Tags: broadly
    Sense id: en-rat_race-en-noun-cQRrE~be
  3. (politics, business, finance) Inconsiderate or unfair competition, where the competitors are willing to use any means to win. Categories (topical): Business, Finance, Politics, Collectives
    Sense id: en-rat_race-en-noun-2dyDpoB2 Disambiguation of Collectives: 15 15 70 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 22 11 67 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 22 17 61 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 23 18 59 Topics: business, finance, government, politics
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: rat-race Derived forms: rat racer, rat-race (english: verbal form)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for rat race meaning in English (7.6kB)

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "rat racer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "english": "verbal form",
      "word": "rat-race"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "rat",
        "3": "race"
      },
      "expansion": "rat + race",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "rat + race",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "rat races",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "rat race (plural rat races)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2006 May 14, Richard Corliss, “Get Your Motor Running”, in Time",
          "text": "[…] a 1950s-ish town, keeping a sense of community far from the superhighway rat race.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An activity or situation which is congested with participants and which is hectic or tedious, especially in the context of a busy, modern urban lifestyle."
      ],
      "id": "en-rat_race-en-noun-6BavVff6",
      "links": [
        [
          "activity",
          "activity"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ],
        [
          "congested",
          "congested"
        ],
        [
          "hectic",
          "hectic"
        ],
        [
          "tedious",
          "tedious"
        ],
        [
          "lifestyle",
          "lifestyle"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) An activity or situation which is congested with participants and which is hectic or tedious, especially in the context of a busy, modern urban lifestyle."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "rotteræs"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "word": "oravanpyörä"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "course folle"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Rattenrennen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "word": "hajsza"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "word": "pozícióharc"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "word": "mókuskerék"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "brú carnáin"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "corsa sfrenata"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "corsa al successo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "competizione sfrenata"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "rotterace"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "word": "rotteres"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "wyścig szczurów"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "krysinyje bega",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "tags": [
            "masculine",
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "крысиные бега"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "word": "trčanje u kotaču"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "80 3 17",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "ekorrhjul"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1979, Robin Scott (lyrics and music), “Pop Muzik”",
          "text": "Forget about the rat race / Let's do the Milkshake / Selling like a hotcake",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1980 [1962], Ian Fleming, chapter 1, in The Spy Who Loved Me, page 3",
          "text": "I was running away […] from my inability, although I am quite an attractive rat, to make headway in the rat-race.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1989 April 30, Martha Bayles, quoting David Marc, “Taking Sitcoms Seriously”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "Echoing Allen Ginsberg, he contends that the suburban setting of “Father Knows Best” is most accurately seen as America's “ludicrous breeding ground for the young meat who will be fed into its wars and rat races and inhuman conformities.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The busy, modern urban lifestyle itself, especially when seen as a competition for wealth or power."
      ],
      "id": "en-rat_race-en-noun-cQRrE~be",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension) The busy, modern urban lifestyle itself, especially when seen as a competition for wealth or power."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Business",
          "orig": "en:Business",
          "parents": [
            "Economics",
            "Society",
            "Social sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Finance",
          "orig": "en:Finance",
          "parents": [
            "Business",
            "Economics",
            "Society",
            "Social sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Politics",
          "orig": "en:Politics",
          "parents": [
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "22 11 67",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "22 17 61",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "23 18 59",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 15 70",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Collectives",
          "orig": "en:Collectives",
          "parents": [
            "Miscellaneous",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Inconsiderate or unfair competition, where the competitors are willing to use any means to win."
      ],
      "id": "en-rat_race-en-noun-2dyDpoB2",
      "links": [
        [
          "politics",
          "politics"
        ],
        [
          "business",
          "business"
        ],
        [
          "finance",
          "finance#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "Inconsiderate",
          "inconsiderate"
        ],
        [
          "unfair",
          "unfair"
        ],
        [
          "competition",
          "competition"
        ],
        [
          "competitors",
          "competitors"
        ],
        [
          "means",
          "means"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(politics, business, finance) Inconsiderate or unfair competition, where the competitors are willing to use any means to win."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "business",
        "finance",
        "government",
        "politics"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-rat race.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4e/En-au-rat_race.ogg/En-au-rat_race.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/En-au-rat_race.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "rat-race"
    }
  ],
  "word": "rat race"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "en:Collectives"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "rat racer"
    },
    {
      "english": "verbal form",
      "word": "rat-race"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
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        "2": "rat",
        "3": "race"
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      "expansion": "rat + race",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "rat + race",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "rat races",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "rat race (plural rat races)",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2006 May 14, Richard Corliss, “Get Your Motor Running”, in Time",
          "text": "[…] a 1950s-ish town, keeping a sense of community far from the superhighway rat race.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An activity or situation which is congested with participants and which is hectic or tedious, especially in the context of a busy, modern urban lifestyle."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "activity",
          "activity"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ],
        [
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        ],
        [
          "hectic",
          "hectic"
        ],
        [
          "tedious",
          "tedious"
        ],
        [
          "lifestyle",
          "lifestyle"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) An activity or situation which is congested with participants and which is hectic or tedious, especially in the context of a busy, modern urban lifestyle."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1979, Robin Scott (lyrics and music), “Pop Muzik”",
          "text": "Forget about the rat race / Let's do the Milkshake / Selling like a hotcake",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1980 [1962], Ian Fleming, chapter 1, in The Spy Who Loved Me, page 3",
          "text": "I was running away […] from my inability, although I am quite an attractive rat, to make headway in the rat-race.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1989 April 30, Martha Bayles, quoting David Marc, “Taking Sitcoms Seriously”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "Echoing Allen Ginsberg, he contends that the suburban setting of “Father Knows Best” is most accurately seen as America's “ludicrous breeding ground for the young meat who will be fed into its wars and rat races and inhuman conformities.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The busy, modern urban lifestyle itself, especially when seen as a competition for wealth or power."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension) The busy, modern urban lifestyle itself, especially when seen as a competition for wealth or power."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Business",
        "en:Finance",
        "en:Politics"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Inconsiderate or unfair competition, where the competitors are willing to use any means to win."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "politics",
          "politics"
        ],
        [
          "business",
          "business"
        ],
        [
          "finance",
          "finance#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "Inconsiderate",
          "inconsiderate"
        ],
        [
          "unfair",
          "unfair"
        ],
        [
          "competition",
          "competition"
        ],
        [
          "competitors",
          "competitors"
        ],
        [
          "means",
          "means"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(politics, business, finance) Inconsiderate or unfair competition, where the competitors are willing to use any means to win."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "business",
        "finance",
        "government",
        "politics"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-rat race.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4e/En-au-rat_race.ogg/En-au-rat_race.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/En-au-rat_race.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "rat-race"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "rotteræs"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "word": "oravanpyörä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "course folle"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Rattenrennen"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "word": "hajsza"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "word": "pozícióharc"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "word": "mókuskerék"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "brú carnáin"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "corsa sfrenata"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "corsa al successo"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "competizione sfrenata"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "rotterace"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "word": "rotteres"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "wyścig szczurów"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "krysinyje bega",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "tags": [
        "masculine",
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "крысиные бега"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "word": "trčanje u kotaču"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "activity which is hectic, tedious, and congested with participants",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "ekorrhjul"
    }
  ],
  "word": "rat race"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.