Carrier vs. Career — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman — Updated on October 12, 2023
A "carrier" refers to an entity that transports or transmits, while a "career" pertains to a person’s professional journey or occupation.
Difference Between Carrier and Career
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
A carrier typically refers to something or someone that conveys items or substances. On the contrary, a career commonly denotes an individual's employment history, indicating a progressive trajectory in a particular field or profession.
The term carrier often indicates entities involved in the transportation of goods, people, or transmitting signals or diseases. Whereas a career is employed to discuss one's professional journey, often involving advancements, changes, or a certain specialization in a field.
In various contexts, a carrier might represent companies, physical objects, or biological entities. Career, in its utilization, generally contemplates a temporal aspect, indicating a pursuit across a significant time span, typically in one occupational area.
Carrier doesn't imply any professional or vocational journey, focusing more on the act of carrying or transmitting. Career, on the other hand, deeply intertwines with notions of professional development, ambition, and personal achievement in the work environment.
People might engage with various carriers in daily life, such as using a carrier bag for shopping. Regarding career, individuals often evaluate and plan it, considering aspects like growth, satisfaction, and how it aligns with personal goals and values.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
An entity that conveys or transmits.
A person's professional or occupational journey.
Use in a Sentence
The carrier delivered the package on time.
Her career in medicine spans three decades.
Grammatical Usage
Typically a noun.
Used as a noun, sometimes attributively.
Synonym Context
In transportation and transmission contexts.
In contexts discussing professional life.
Associated Field
Related to transport, biology, etc.
Commonly associated with employment/occupation.
Compare with Definitions
Carrier
One that transports or conveys
Baggage carriers.
A message carrier.
Career
A profession for which one trains.
His career in law was highly respected.
Carrier
One, such as a person, business, or organization, that deals in the transport of passengers or goods.
Career
Rapid at full speed.
The car careered down the hill uncontrollably.
Carrier
(Physics) A boson, especially a gauge boson, that conveys a force or mediates an interaction between subatomic particles.
Career
The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways.
Carrier
A carrier wave.
Career
An occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person's life and with opportunities for progress
He seemed destined for a career as an engineer like his father
Carrier
A charge-carrying entity, especially an electron or a hole in a semiconductor.
Career
The general course or progression of one's working life or one's professional achievements
An officer with a distinguished career.
A teacher in the midst of a long career.
Carrier
An insurance or underwriting organization.
Career
A path or course, as of the sun through the heavens.
Carrier
A telecommunications company.
Career
Speed
"My hasting days fly on with full career" (John Milton).
Carrier
A company providing telecommunications services.
The carrier introduced new mobile data plans.
Career
Doing what one does as a permanent occupation or lifework
Career diplomats.
A career criminal.
Carrier
A substance used to dissolve another substance.
Alcohol can act as a carrier for certain medications.
Career
To move forward at high speed, often with minimal control
"that lordly car ... How smoothly it ran. In what style they had come careering along the country roads!" (James Joyce).
Carrier
A mechanism or device by which something is conveyed or conducted.
Career
One's calling in life; a person's occupation; one's profession.
Carrier
(Medicine) A person or animal that shows no symptoms of a disease but harbors the infectious agent of that disease and is capable of transmitting it to others.
Career
A field of employment.
She built a successful career in healthcare.
Carrier
(Genetics) An individual that carries one gene for a particular recessive trait. A carrier does not express the trait but, when mated with another carrier, can produce offspring that do.
Career
Move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way
The coach careered across the road and went through a hedge
Carrier
An aircraft carrier.
Career
A chosen pursuit; a profession or occupation.
Carrier
A person or object that carries someone or something else.
Armored personnel carrier
Career
General course of action or conduct in life, or in a particular part of it.
Washington's career as a soldier
Carrier
Ellipsis of aircraft carrier
Career
(archaic) Speed.
Carrier
A carrier pigeon.
Career
A jouster's path during a joust.
Carrier
A person or company in the business of shipping freight.
Career
(obsolete) A short gallop of a horse.
Carrier
A signal such as radio, sound, or light that is modulated to transmit information.
Career
(falconry) The flight of a hawk.
Carrier
(telecommunication) A mobile network operator; wireless carrier.
Career
(obsolete) A racecourse; the ground run over.
Carrier
(aviation) A certified airline.
Career
To move rapidly straight ahead, especially in an uncontrolled way.
The car careered down the road, missed the curve, and went through a hedge.
Carrier
(engineering) That which drives or carries.
Career
Synonym of serial
A career criminal
Carrier
A piece which communicates to an object in a lathe the motion of the faceplate; a lathe dog.
Career
A race course: the ground run over.
To go back again the same career.
Carrier
A spool holder or bobbin holder in a braiding machine.
Career
A running; full speed; a rapid course.
When a horse is running in his full career.
Carrier
A movable piece in magazine guns which transfers the cartridge to a position from which it can be thrust into the barrel.
Career
General course of action or conduct in life, or in a particular part or calling in life, or in some special undertaking; usually applied to course or conduct which is of a public character; as, Washington's career as a soldier.
An impartial view of his whole career.
Carrier
A movable piece in a planetary gear train.
Career
The flight of a hawk.
Carrier
(chemistry) A catalyst or other intermediary in a chemical reaction.
Career
To move or run rapidly.
Careering gayly over the curling waves.
Carrier
A person or other organism that has a genetic trait, mutation or infection liable to cause a disease, but displays no symptoms.
Career
The particular occupation for which you are trained
Carrier
A charge carrier.
Career
The general progression of your working or professional life;
The general had had a distinguished career
He had a long career in the law
Carrier
A liquid or gas used as a medium for another substance.
Linseed oil used as the carrier for pigment in oil painting
Inert carrier gas, which transports a chemical reactant
Career
Move headlong at high speed;
The cars careered down the road
The mob careered through the streets
Carrier
One who, or that which, carries or conveys; a messenger.
The air which is but . . . a carrier of the sounds.
Career
A person's course or progress through life.
Her career spanned politics and academia.
Carrier
One who is employed, or makes it his business, to carry goods for others for hire; a porter; a teamster.
The roads are crowded with carriers, laden with rich manufactures.
Career
A course along which someone or something moves.
The asteroid continued its career through space.
Carrier
That which drives or carries; as: (a) A piece which communicates to an object in a lathe the motion of the face plate; a lathe dog. (b) A spool holder or bobbin holder in a braiding machine. (c) A movable piece in magazine guns which transfers the cartridge to a position from which it can be thrust into the barrel.
Carrier
Someone whose employment involves carrying something;
The bonds were transmitted by carrier
Carrier
A self-propelled wheeled vehicle designed specifically to carry something;
Refrigerated carriers have revolutionized the grocery business
Carrier
A large warship that carries planes and has a long flat deck for take-offs and landings
Carrier
An inactive substance that is a vehicle for a radioactive tracer of the same substance and that assists in its recovery after some chemical reaction
Carrier
A person or firm in the business of transporting people or goods or messages
Carrier
A radio wave that can be modulated in order to transmit a signal
Carrier
A man who delivers the mail
Carrier
A boy who delivers newspapers
Carrier
A person who has some pathogen to which he is immune but who can pass it on to others
Carrier
A rack attached to a vehicle; for carrying luggage or skis or the like
Carrier
An entity that transports goods.
The carrier delivered the furniture to our house.
Carrier
An organism transmitting a disease.
Mosquitoes are a known carrier of malaria.
Carrier
A person or animal that has a gene for a particular trait or disease.
She discovered she was a carrier for the genetic disorder.
Common Curiosities
Can a carrier be an organism?
Yes, organisms can be carriers of genes or diseases.
Is career always related to professional life?
Mostly yes, but it can also describe speed and motion in some contexts.
What is a career?
A career pertains to an individual’s professional journey or occupation.
Can a career be planned?
Yes, many people plan and shape their careers through education and choices.
Does career imply a long-term commitment?
Often yes, as careers typically suggest a pursuit spanning years.
Can a carrier refer to a company?
Yes, especially companies involved in transportation or communication services.
Can career be used as a verb?
Yes, as in something careered (moved rapidly), though it’s less common.
Can a person be a carrier?
Yes, for instance, a person carrying genetic traits or diseases.
What is a carrier?
A carrier is an entity that carries, transports, or transmits.
How does one choose a career?
Through considering interests, skills, values, and market demand.
Is career related to success?
It can be, as careers often involve aspirations and achievements.
Does carrier have a relevance in biology?
Yes, referring to entities transmitting genetic traits or diseases.
Can carrier imply transmission of signals?
Yes, like telecommunications carriers transmitting signals.
Can a carrier be a non-living thing?
Yes, like a shopping bag or a telecommunications signal.
Can the term carrier be used in genetics?
Yes, indicating an entity that possesses and can transmit a gene.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
