glass ceiling

noun

: an intangible barrier within a hierarchy that prevents women or minorities from obtaining upper-level positions

Examples of glass ceiling in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Hillary Clinton's speech talking about Kamala finally breaking the glass ceiling. Leah Feiger, WIRED, 22 Aug. 2024 Breaking The Glass Ceiling Several remarkable women have successfully broken through the glass ceiling in finance, setting new standards for leadership and achievement. Anushree Jain, Forbes, 27 Sep. 2024 Hence, her breaking of this particular glass ceiling was viewed less as a move toward gender equity and more as an example of professional overreach. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 24 Sep. 2024 South Korea has the worst gender wage gap in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and has bottomed out the Economist’s glass ceiling index, which measures the role and influence of women in the work force, for more than a decade. Gawon Bae, CNN, 20 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for glass ceiling 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'glass ceiling.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1984, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of glass ceiling was in 1984

Dictionary Entries Near glass ceiling

Cite this Entry

“Glass ceiling.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glass%20ceiling. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

glass ceiling

noun
: an informal limit to how high a position women and minorities can earn in a company
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!