careerist

From career +‎ -ist.

• IPA^(key): /kəˈɹɪɹɪst/

• Audio (US):

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careerist (plural careerists)

1. (derogatory) A person who pursues the advancement of their career at the expense of other values.
   • 1980, Alfred Kern, “Waiting for Euripides”, reprinted in Malham M. Wakin (editor), Military Ethics, DIANE Publishing (1994), →ISBN, page 121:

     A careerist is a square-filler, a time-server. His talents and imagination have been circumscribed to perform managerial duties.

   • 1995, Michael Nylan and Nathan Sivin, An Introduction to Yang Hsiung's "Canon of Supreme Mystery" (T'ai Hsüan Ching, ca. 4 B.C.)‎^[1]:

     Liu Hsin's famous jibe seems to have been directed not against Yang Hsiung but against the intellectual limitations of contemporary careerists. […] Yang's writings and personal character did not appeal to the careerists of his time

   • 1997, Anita Blair, quoted in U.S. Society & Values, June 1997: The Changing Roles of Women in the United States, DIANE Publishing, →ISBN, page 27:

     You’ve got a lot of elite careerist women in the officer corps who have a certain set of desires usually related to their career.

2. A person who takes a job, especially in the military, for a long time rather than temporarily.

• careerism

careerist (comparative more careerist, superlative most careerist)

1. Of or pertaining to such a person or way of life

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