rat race

1. 1.

   an exhausting routine that leaves no time for relaxation

   Broaderroutine

Questions about rat race

What does rat race mean?

rat race means "an exhausting routine that leaves no time for relaxation".

Is rat race a common word?

rat race is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.