[vee-i-kuh
l or, sometimes, vee-hi-] 
| 1. | any means in or by which someone travels or something is carried or conveyed; a means of conveyance or transport: a motor vehicle; space vehicles. |
| 2. | a conveyance moving on wheels, runners, tracks, or the like, as a cart, sled, automobile, or tractor. |
| 3. | a means of transmission or passage: Air is the vehicle of sound. |
| 4. | a carrier, as of infection. |
| 5. | a medium of communication, expression, or display: The novel is a fitting vehicle for his talents. Language is the vehicle of thought. |
| 6. | Theater, Movies. a play, screenplay, or the like, having a role suited to the talents of and often written for a specific performer. |
| 7. | a means of accomplishing a purpose: College is a vehicle for success. |
| 8. | Rhetoric. the thing or idea to which the subject of a metaphor is compared, as “rose” in “she is a rose.” Compare tenor (def. 3). |
| 9. | Pharmacology. a substance, usually fluid, possessing little or no medicinal action, used as a medium for active remedies. |
| 10. | Painting. a liquid, as oil, in which a pigment is mixed before being applied to a surface. |
[h] in the second syllable tends to disappear: [vee-i-kuhl]. A pronunciation with primary stress on the second syllable and a fully pronounced [h] is usually considered nonstandard: [vee-hik-uhl]. In the adjective vehicular, where the primary stress is normally on the second syllable, the [h] is always pronounced.| ve·hi·cle (vē'ĭ-kəl) n.
[Latin vehiculum, from vehere, to carry; see wegh- in Indo-European roots.] |
vehicle ve·hi·cle (vē'ĭ-kəl)
n.
A substance of no therapeutic value that is used to convey an active medicine for administration.