rat race

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.

rat race

noun

1. a continual routine of hectic competitive activity

   working in the City is a real rat race

Word History and Origins

Origin of rat race¹

An Americanism dating back to 1935–40

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

Imagine this: After years of toiling in the Southern California rat race, you buy a parcel of land in the high desert.

From Los Angeles Times

Norway's Casper Ruud criticised the ranking system earlier this year, describing it as "a rat race", while Australian world number nine Alex de Minaur put his early French Open exit down to "feeling burned out".

From BBC

Tangping, or “lying flat,” became a ubiquitous term for opting out of the rat race, not unlike the term “quiet quitting” in the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times

"Travelling really opened my eyes, we’re all stuck in a rat race here in the UK," she said.

From BBC

Brown rats are the undisputed winners of the real rat race.

From Seattle Times