career ladder
noun
variants
or corporate ladder
: the series of progressively higher positions that can be attained in one's working career conceived of as a ladder to be climbed toward greater responsibility and financial success
… a twentysomething heroine working her way up the career ladder …—Clarissa Cruz
The more skills you acquire and use, the more you can earn – even if you don't jump to the next rung on the corporate ladder.—Jaclyn Fierman
Like most successful women in the pop-music industry, Rhone, 42, started off answering phones and watching men climb the corporate ladder to success.—Lorraine Ali
… the kind of resentment that a man who has spent his life climbing the ranks of a large bureaucracy feels toward a man who leapfrogs up the career ladder through a special and obnoxious blend of deferments and degrees.—Michael Lewis
Today as vice-president and director of global diversity, she works with the office of the CEO to ensure that women and people of color with the potential to move up the corporate ladder are identified and groomed.—Rhonda Richards
Cite this Entry
“Career ladder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/career%20ladder. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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