rat-race

verb

To rat run, that is, to drive on side streets, often at high speeds, to avoid traffic.

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Meanings

verbrat-race (third-person singular simple present rat-races, present participle rat-racing, simple past and past participle rat-raced)

present singular third person rat-races · participle present rat-racing · participle past rat-raced · past rat-raced

  1. intransitiveslangtransitiveTo rat run, that is, to drive on side streets, often at high speeds, to avoid traffic.
  2. idiomaticintransitiveslangTo partake or participate in a rat race, in all senses.
nounrat-race (plural rat-races)

plural rat-races

  1. alternativeAlternative form of rat race.

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

    1939, Christopher Morley, chapter 26, in Kitty Foyle, page 261
Cite this entry
APA

rat-race. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rat-race

MLA

“rat-race.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rat-race. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rat-race,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rat-race.

Source: rat-race on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.