the rat race

noun

: the unpleasant life of people who have jobs that require them to work very hard in order to compete with others for money, power, status, etc.

She is quitting the rat race to spend time with her family.

Examples of the rat race in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For some people, dogs are a way to feel loved, to relieve pressures to have kids, to fight the drudgery of their job, to reduce the stress of the rat race and to connect with the outdoors. —Margret Grebowicz, Fortune, 13 Feb. 2026

The Frank Loesser-scored musical satirizes the rat race of American corporate life, and that part of the show still holds up 65 years later. —Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Feb. 2026

What of being a mom while also participating in the rat race of professional life? —Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2026

Despite the rat race, Orlean never loses sight of her love of the craft. —Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2025

With high demand and strong career projections for each of these remote roles, 2025 is your chance to break away from the rat race, define your working hours around your lifestyle, and enjoy your job instead of grinding to the point of burnout every day. —Rachel Wells, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2025

The tension between taking part in the rat race and holding on to a sense of self. —Francis Lam, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 May 2025

The golden nugget that’ll take you and yours out of the rat race. —Andy Andersen, Vulture, 21 Mar. 2025

In Riff Raff, Coolidge’s Ruth is the ex-wife of Vincent (Ed Harris), a former hitman who has found peace with a new wife, Sandy (Gabriel Union) and son, DJ (Miles J. Harvey) in a remote abode far away from the rat race. —Tim Lammers, Forbes, 21 Mar. 2025

Rhymes for the rat race

• aerospace
• anatase
• anyplace
• commonplace
• cyberspace
• database
• diabase
• diastase
• dnase
• elastase
• fireplace
• hyperspace