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career

noun
ca·​reer | \ kÉ™-ˈrir How to pronounce career (audio) \

Definition of career

 (Entry 1 of 2)

1 : a profession for which one trains and which is undertaken as a permanent calling a career in medicine —often used before another noun a career diplomat
2 : a field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement especially in public, professional, or business life Washington's career as a soldier
3a : speed in a course —used especially in the phrases in full career or at full career The trumpets sounded, and the knights charged each other in full career.— Sir Walter Scott
b : course, passage the sun's career across the sky
4 : encounter, charge

career

verb
careered; careering; careers

Definition of career (Entry 2 of 2)

intransitive verb

: to go at top speed especially in a headlong manner a car careered off the road
Synonyms & Antonyms Careen and Career Did You Know? More Example Sentences Learn More about career

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Careen and Career

Verb

Some people might be confused by the warning to not confuse careen and career, because the most common sense of career ("a profession") is not much like any of the meanings of careen. But when employed as a verb, career does have some semantic overlap with careen; both words may be used to mean "to go at top speed especially in a headlong manner." A car, for instance, may either careen or career. Some usage guides hold, however, that the car is only careening if there is side-to-side motion, as careen has other meanings related to movement, among which is "to sway from side to side."

Did You Know?

Verb

Chances are you're very familiar with the noun career meaning "a profession followed as a permanent occupation." What you may not know is that the word career got its start in the world of medieval tournaments. Jousting required knights to ride at full speed in short bursts, and 16th-century English speakers used the noun "career" (from Middle French carriere) to refer to such gallops as well as to the courses knights rode. By the mid-17th century, the verb had acquired its general "go fast" meaning, and by the 19th century the noun had developed the workaday use that is common today. (In case you're wondering, "career" is not related to "careen," which also means "to move at high speed"; "careen" has nautical origins, tracing to the Latin word for "hull.")

Examples of career in a Sentence

Noun

 She hopes to pursue a career in medicine. My career as a waitress lasted one day. During his long career in advertising he won numerous awards and honors.

Verb

 she careered off to the class she'd almost forgotten
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Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

 Taylor Heinicke, Carolina Panthers The third-year veteran out of Old Dominion has one start in his career. — Jim Ayello, Indianapolis Star, "Insider: Looking at backup quarterbacks Colts could acquire in coming days," 30 Aug. 2019 Just two other home runs in his career were hit farther. — Chandler Rome, Houston Chronicle, "Astros take down Blue Jays in series opener," 30 Aug. 2019 Among the new programming arriving on YouTube: a documentary launching Oct. 8 exploring the life and career of music icon Johnny Cash, and a 30-minute special timed to the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. — Brett Molina, USA TODAY, "YouTube to make future Originals programming free to watch," 29 Aug. 2019 His 10 goals this season are second-most on the Fire and the second-most in his career. — Jeremy Mikula, chicagotribune.com, "Isolation and darkness in an enclosed space isn’t a nightmare. It’s flotation therapy, and Chicago Fire forward C.J. Sapong uses it to recover.," 29 Aug. 2019 He was criticized early in his career for laughing at his own jokes. — Marcia Mannawriter, San Diego Union-Tribune, "In Mojalet Dance Collective’s ‘Red: Man, Rascal, Clown,’ Red Skelton’s spirit lives on," 29 Aug. 2019 Usually racing out of the blocks and suffocating opponents, Federer has lost the first set in his opening two rounds at a major for the first time ever in his career. — Ravi Ubha, CNN, "One hundred matches and counting for Federer at the US Open -- but is there cause for concern for the Swiss?," 28 Aug. 2019 During the Putin era, this class has been left to immerse itself in private lives and careers, and incentivized to ignore politics. — The Christian Science Monitor, "Encircling the interrupters with civility," 23 Aug. 2019 This man has ruined the lives and careers of many people. — Cindy Boren, The Denver Post, "Olympic champion figure skating coach banned for life for sexual misconduct claims," 22 Aug. 2019

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

 Your personal salability and attractiveness also extend to career, so this is also a good time for job interviews or to make new business contacts. — Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive.com, "Horoscope for Aug. 26, 2019: Cancer, be a sudden ray of sunshine; Aquarius, focus on clear communication," 26 Aug. 2019 As touch-screen phones careered toward ubiquity, and as desktop interfaces and website design and mobile operating systems huddled together around a crude and adapting set of visual metaphors, the badge was ascendant. — John Herrman, New York Times, "How Tiny Red Dots Took Over Your Life," 27 Feb. 2018 Her groundstrokes careered wide or carried repeatedly long. — Kurt Streeter, New York Times, "Wimbledon 2019: Serena Williams Escapes; Angelique Kerber Doesn’t," 4 July 2019 In a Facebook post shared the day after the crash, Smith wrote that her car started hydroplaning before careering off the road between two trees and flipping three times. — The Washington Post, The Mercury News, "A teenager didn’t come home. An iPhone app led her mother to a ravine.," 17 June 2019 The ball careered into the hand of Liverpool defender Ragnar Klavan. —

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