rat-race

rat race

noun Informal.
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.
Origin:
1935–40, Americanism

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
rat race
 
—n
a continual routine of hectic competitive activity: working in the City is a real rat race

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Rat-race is always a great word to know.
So is gobo. Does it mean:
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.
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Slang Dictionary

rat race definition


  1. n.
    a dull and repetitive situation; a dull and unrewarding job. (See also daily grind.) : I am really tired of this rat race—day after day. , She dropped out of the rat race and moved to Vermont, where she opened a barber shop.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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