careerist
UK[kəˈrɪərɪst]US[kəˈrɪrɪst]
n
A person whose main concern is their career advancement, often at the expense of other interests or ethical considerations.
adj
Having the characteristics of a careerist; overly focused on career advancement.
Morpheme Breakdown
career
ist
career
professional path
ist
person who advocates/practices
Etymology
The word 'careerist' is a modern English formation, built upon the older word 'career'. 'Career' itself traveled from the Latin 'carrus', meaning a wheeled vehicle, into Old Italian 'carriera' and then French 'carrière', initially denoting a racecourse. This literal sense of a defined track evolved metaphorically into the "course of one's life or profession." The suffix '-ist', with origins in Greek '-istes' denoting an agent, was appended in the 19th century to create a label for a person wholly dedicated to navigating this professional course. Thus, the term logically constructs the image of a person single-mindedly pursuing advancement on the racetrack of their profession.
Analysis
Structure: career (professional path) + ist (person who advocates/practices)
- career: From Latin 'carrus' (wheeled vehicle), via French 'carrière' (racecourse, course of life). In this word, it functions as the base noun meaning one's professional life course.
- ist: A suffix of Greek origin (via Latin '-ista'), used to form agent nouns denoting a person who practices or is concerned with something.
Examples
He was dismissed as a mere careerist, more interested in promotions than in the company's mission.
Her careerist ambitions led her to relocate frequently for better opportunities.
The article criticized the careerist culture within the political establishment.