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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

av·o·ca·tion

Audio Help [av-uh-key-shuh

–noun

1.	something a person does in addition to a principal occupation, esp. for pleasure; hobby: Our doctor's avocation is painting.

2.	a person's regular occupation, calling, or vocation.

3.	Archaic. diversion or distraction.

[Origin: 1520–30; < L āvocātiōn- (s. of āvocātiō) a calling away. See a-⁴, vocation

]

—Related forms

av·o·ca·tion·al, adjective

av·o·ca·tion·al·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
avocation

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

av·o·ca·tion Audio Help (āv'ō-kā'shən) Pronunciation Key
n.

An activity taken up in addition to one's regular work or profession, usually for enjoyment; a hobby.
One's regular work or profession.
Archaic A distraction or diversion.

[Latin āvocātiō, āvocātiōn-, diversion, from āvocātus, past participle of āvocāre, to call away : ā-, ab-, away; see ab-¹ + vocāre, to call; see wek^w- in Indo-European roots.]

av'o·ca'tion·al adj., av'o·ca'tion·al·ly adv.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
avocation

1529, "a calling away from one's occupation," from L. avocationem (nom. avocatio) "a calling away," pp. of avocare, from ad- "away" + vocare "to call" (see voice).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

avocation
noun
an auxiliary activity

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Avocation

Av`o*ca"tion\, n. [L. avocatio.]

1. A calling away; a diversion. [Obs. or Archaic]

Impulses to duty, and powerful avocations from sin. --South.

2. That which calls one away from one's regular employment or vocation.

Heaven is his vocation, and therefore he counts earthly employments avocations. --Fuller.

By the secular cares and avocations which accompany marriage the clergy have been furnished with skill in common life. --Atterbury.

Note: In this sense the word is applied to the smaller affairs of life, or occasional calls which summon a person to leave his ordinary or principal business. Avocation (in the singular) for vocation is usually avoided by good writers.

3. pl. Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment; vocation.

There are professions, among the men, no more favorable to these studies than the common avocations of women. --Richardson.

In a few hours, above thirty thousand men left his standard, and returned to their ordinary avocations. --Macaulay.

An irregularity and instability of purpose, which makes them choose the wandering avocations of a shepherd, rather than the more fixed pursuits of agriculture. --Buckle.

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