17 July 2017
avocation
[av-uh-key-shuh n]
noun
1. something a person does in addition to a principal occupation, especially for pleasure; hobby:
Our doctor’s avocation is painting.
2. a person’s regular occupation, calling, or vocation.
3. Archaic. diversion or distraction.
Origin of avocation
Latin
1520-1530; Latin āvocātiōn- (stem of āvocātiō) a calling away. See a-4, vocation
Related forms
avocational, adjective
avocationally, adverb
Can be confused
avocation, vocation.
avocation, evocation.
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for avocation
Contemporary Examples
He stammered, and read and wrote a lot of poetry (mostly in secret), an avocation he changed to photography for the novel.
Colm Toibin Describes The Creation Of His Quiet Masterpiece ‘Nora Webster’
Jennie Yabroff
November 2, 2014
I think it was more a matter of self-consciousness… I always saw writing about music as purely an avocation.
Peter Guralnick: In Love With the Life of Music
Ron Hogan
March 28, 2014
Historical Examples
Because they serve for stages of faculty and avocation upon that biological gradient of Ascent by which we climb.
Feminism and Sex-Extinction
Arabella Kenealy
They were a gay group of men, and hospitality was their avocation.
Complete Story of the San Francisco Horror
Richard Linthicum
Sire,” said the noble Surgeon Larry to Napoleon, “it is my avocation to prolong life, and not to destroy it.
Martyria
Augustus C. Hamlin
Petrarca, in his avocation of barber, was in the greatest request.
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 57, No. 351, January 1845
Various
But it is the cause of a vast amount of misery amongst those who are compelled to seek a house close to their daily avocation.
Christmas Penny Readings
George Manville Fenn
I would not like to hurt your feelings by calling your avocation a trade!
Crown and Anchor
John Conroy Hutcheson
They found Joe Sanders sitting on the doorstep, with the morose aspect of a man deprived of his avocation in life.
When ‘Bear Cat’ Went Dry
Charles Neville Buck
Industry is diligence applied to some avocation, business, or profession.
English Synonyms and Antonyms
James Champlin Fernald
Anagram
to ciao van
coo at vain
Today’s quote
Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.
– Oscar Ameringer
On this day
17 July 1774 – Captain James Cook arrives in New Hebrides (now Vanuatu).
17 July 1976 – 25 African countries boycott the opening ceremony of the Montreal Olympics in protest against New Zealand’s sporting links with South Africa.
17 July 1979 – In Nicaragua, Marxist Sandinista rebels overthrow the U.S. sponsored government of President Samoza, who flees to the United States.
17 July 2013 – The Queensland Maroons rugby league team win a record 8 consecutive State of Origin series against the New South Wales Blues.