Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An activity taken up in addition to one's regular work or profession, usually for enjoyment; a hobby.
- n. One's regular work or profession.
- n. Archaic A distraction or diversion.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act of calling aside or diverting from some object or employment.
- n. The authoritative removal of a case or process from an inferior to a superior court.
- n. The state of being called, or of wandering aside or away; a diversion of the thoughts.
- n. Hence—4. That which calls one away from one's proper business; a subordinate or occasional occupation; a diversion or distraction.
- n. A person's regular business or occupation; vocation; calling.
Wiktionary
- n. obsolete A calling away; a diversion.
- n. A hobby or recreational or leisure pursuit.
- n. That which calls one away from one's regular employment or vocation.
- n. Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment; vocation.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Obs. or Archaic A calling away; a diversion.
- n. That which calls one away from one's regular employment or vocation.
- n. Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment; vocation.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an auxiliary activity
Etymologies
- From Latin āvocātiōnem, from avocō. (Wiktionary)
- Latin āvocātiō, āvocātiōn-, diversion, from āvocātus, past participle of āvocāre, to call away : ā-, ab-, away; see ab-1 + vocāre, to call; see wekw- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“But Guckert's avocation is the least-creepy aspect of this story.”
“My main avocation, almost a second vocation, is farming.”
“I'm now pursuing my long-term avocation, the stock market.”
“I miss my chosen avocation, which is that of minstrel.”
The Day of the Dissonance
“I would not like to hurt your feelings by calling your avocation a trade!”
“Allowing liberty to a prisoner to pursue this kind of avocation is productive of another evil; it leads him, by gradual steps, from becoming careless of his proper duty, to the assumption of a degree of importance and independence which induces him to place himself above his master, and thus controverts the natural and necessary distinctions of society.”
“Now _calling_ does not mean 'avocation' or 'employment,' as I perhaps need scarcely explain, but the divine fact of our having been summoned by Him to be His.”
“I've worked with a lot of good folks over my career, and I appreciate the opportunity afforded to me in this 'avocation' to have worked alongside each of them.”
“Each lawful avocation has its own set of expectations and ethical rules (written or not) that guide those who work in that field.”
“But 160 years ago, an educator by avocation, not profession gave it another name: capitalism.”
The Huffington Post: Brian Jones: Karl Marx: Teacher of the Year?
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘avocation’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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sdamle1
echt
echt, apocalypse, resurgence, forthright, logorrhea, mercurial, torrid, exorcise, obscure, intrusive, morose, vindictive and 100 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, approbation, orator, peroration, Cicero, eloquence, elocution, rhetoric, premeditate, plead, Isocrates and 264 more...
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January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
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Words of Anathem
Orth, Fluccish, and English words that play a role in Neal Stephenson's Anathem.
praxis, avout, anathem, extramuros, intramuros, saunt, concent, bulshytt, requiem, to go hundred, arbre, mathic and 84 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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G...R...E
gross.
sybarite, restiveness, churl, nepotism, jingoism, pusillanimous, gaffe, incisive, enervate, bucolic, concomitant, abeyance and 158 more...
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GRE 3500
abase, abash, abate, aberrant, abeyance, abjure, ablution, abut, accede, accentuate, acerbity, acetic and 133 more...
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GRE Words
abjure, unswear, state, rescission, indemnification, ab, reny, abnegate, vitiated, vitiate, adumbrated, abash and 378 more...
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inkhorn's Words
inkhorn, aplomb, apotheosis, asinine, avatar, bombastic, boorish, bromide, bucolic, cagey, canvass, digress and 991 more...
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Vocabulary
Words I come across while reading.
talus, echelon, onanistic, cabochon, avocation, charnel, moue, portentous, prolixity, astringent, hoary, patina and 165 more...
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GRE AWA
escalating, vehement, vehemence, hostility, paparazzi, regime, irrespective, scoop, exaggerated, overblown, unfetter, scrupulous and 272 more...
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My GRE words
abase, abate, aberrant, abet, abeyance, abject, abjure, ablution, abnegation, abortive, abrogate, abscission and 140 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 997 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for avocation.
myth17 Pursue even the most prosy things as you would your avocation. #GREs Aug 10, 2012