brass ceiling
- noun
- /bræs ˈsiːlɪŋ/
- Literature
:
techo de bronce
- She was the first woman in her department to break through the brass ceiling.
Examples
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Many women in law enforcement have struggled against the brass ceiling for years.
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Many women face a brass ceiling in corporate environments.
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The company's new diversity policies aim to address the persistent brass ceiling.
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The brass ceiling prevents diverse candidates from advancing.
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Many women in law enforcement have struggled against the brass ceiling for years.
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The company's new diversity policies aim to address the persistent brass ceiling.
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She was the first woman in her department to break through the brass ceiling.
Synonyms
14
4.0
An invisible barrier that stops women and minorities from reaching top jobs
Antonyms
How Difficult
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'brass' (senior leadership) combined with 'ceiling' (a cap or limit) yields a plausible compositional meaning of a leadership-imposed limit on promotion, so a learner who knows both senses could infer a general barrier to advancement. However, the phrase is metaphorical, culturally specific (modeled on 'glass ceiling' and tied to institutions like the military), and not a fully predictable everyday composition, so it requires some prior exposure or sociocultural knowledge.
Etymology
Brass ceiling comes from a simple picture: brass means the top leaders and ceiling is the roof above you, so imagine a hard metal roof made by those leaders that stops people from moving up. That's why it means 'a barrier to promotion', especially for women or minorities.