rat race
/ˈɹæt ˌɹeɪs/
"rat-race" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rat race” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An activity or situation which is congested with participants and which is hectic or tedious, especially in the context of a busy, modern urban lifestyle.
Corpus desk
Index EN-rat-race · rat race · English
rat race · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "R" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rat race |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹæt ˌɹeɪs/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “rat race” in English
Rare enough to double-check
rat race is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɹæt ˌɹeɪs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for rat race, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From rat + race. The correct English form is rat race, spelled R-A-T- -R-A-C-E.
Definition
- 1An activity or situation which is congested with participants and which is hectic or tedious, especially in the context of a busy, modern urban lifestyle.
- 2The busy, modern urban lifestyle itself, especially when seen as a competition for wealth or power.
- 3Inconsiderate or unfair competition, where the competitors are willing to use any means to win.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how rat race appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[…] a 1950s-ish town, keeping a sense of community far from the superhighway rat race.
Forget about the rat race / Let's do the Milkshake / Selling like a hotcake
Etymology
From rat + race.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.