hamster wheel | Idiomator

Meaning: Acircularcagefor a hamster or other smallrodent, whichrotatesverticallyas the animal runs at its base.; (figuratively,by extension)Amonotonous,repetitive,unfulfillingactivity, especially one in which noprogressis achieved.2002June 28, Michiko Kakutani, “Books of the Times”, inNew York Times, retrieved23 September 2008:The overall mood of this volume is one of melancholy and loss, weary resignation to one's lot—trudging round and round on the rustyhamster wheelof life.2020May 6, Prof. Andrew McNaughton, “Time to challenge some sacred philosophies of recent years”, inRail, page32:Before the current pandemic, the rail industry appeared to be trapped on an ever-acceleratinghamster wheel, trying to keep up with customer demand and political expectation on an essentially historic system itself exposed to greater impacts of climate change.

Examples:

EN: He's gonna fire that thing tonight. And we'll get back to that hamster wheel.
ES: Si no esta noche todo recomenzará y tú..
EN: But that's it, pal. You're finished. No more hamster wheel for me, you slimy son of a...
ES: Pues ya me cansé de este círculo vicioso grandísimo hijo...
EN: Hook your dad up to, like, a big hamster wheel.
ES: Conectemos a tu papá a una rueda.
EN: We have to get the only hamsters on planet Earth... who can't figure out a stupid hamster wheel.
ES: Son los únicos hámsters del planeta... que no entienden la rueda para hámsters.
EN: This kicks a hamster wheel's butt.
ES: Es mucho mejor que una rueda de hámster.
EN: I mean, we're all on a hamster wheel, aren't we?
ES: Es decir, todos estamos sobre una rueda para hámsters, ¿no?
EN: that keeps the wage-slave in line, running on a hamster wheel, with millions of others, in effect powering an empire that truly benefits only the elite at the top of the pyramid.
ES: que mantiene el salario-esclavo alineado, corriendo en la rueda del hémster, con otros millones, en efecto dándole poder a un imperio que verdaderamente beneficia sólo a la elite en la punta de la pirámide.
EN: The tracks use this set of road wheels... but this round hamster wheel is what actually drives the track.
ES: Las pistas usan este tipo de ruedas de camino pero esta rueda de hámster redonda es lo que en realidad mueve la pista.
EN: This school is a glorified hamster wheel run by incompetent bureaucrats who can get you through a test, but you will fail the test of life!
ES: Esta escuela es una glorificada rueda de hámster dirigido por burócratas incompetentes ¿Quién puede obtener usted a través de una prueba, pero tu no puedes probar la vida!
EN: And then this is a human-sized hamster wheel that will be next to the mural if we can get one.
ES: Esto es una rueda de hámster para humanos, que estará al lado, si conseguimos una.
EN: - Good luck on your hamster wheel.
ES: Buena suerte en su rueda de hamster.
EN: - The wheel. The little hamster wheel that we're all running up to get a little taste of your little water thingy.
ES: ¡La ruedita de hámsters en la que corremos para probar de tu agua!
EN: Gettin off the hamster wheel.
ES: me bajare de la rueda del hámster.
EN: I can just see that little hamster wheel turning in your head, Walker.
ES: Veo esa rueda de hámster girando en tu mente, Walker.
EN: Now, in honor of my last day on the hamster wheel, I have a little gift for you.
ES: Ahora, en honor a mí último día en la rueda del hámster, tengo un pequeño obsequio para ti

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).