noun, verb, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Alternative form of rat race. alt-of, alternative

   "Their own private life gets to be a rat-race."

Verb

1. 1
   To rat run, that is, to drive on side streets, often at high speeds, to avoid traffic. intransitive, slang, transitive
2. 2
   To partake or participate in a rat race, in all senses. idiomatic, intransitive, slang

Synonyms

All synonyms

absurdityaimlessnessbootlessnessbusynesscharybdisdirty work

Example

More examples

"Their own private life gets to be a rat-race."

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.