You searched for: “avocation”
avocation (s), avocations (pl) (noun forms)
1. A hobby or pastime; not one's normal work.
2. The opposite of one's career or occupation.
3. Etymology: "a calling away from one's occupation", from Latin avocationem, "a calling away"; and Latin avocare, "to call away"; from ad-, "away" plus vocare, "to call".
This entry is located in the following units: -ation, -ization (-iz[e] + -ation); -isation (British spelling variation) (page 12) voc-, voca-, vocab-, vocat-, -vocation, -vocative, -vocable, vok-, -voke + (page 1)
avocation, vocation
avocation (av" oh KAY shuhn) (noun)
An activity taken up in addition to one's regular work or profession, usually for enjoyment; a hobby: "Lana's favorite avocation is reading."
vocation (voh KAY shuhn) (noun)
A regular occupation, especially one for which a person is particularly suited or qualified: "Darwin is a carpenter by vocation, but his hobby is painting."

Anytime someone is able to combine his or her avocation and vocation; such as, being a professor of literature and writing a novel in the spare time, is a very lucky person indeed.

This entry is located in the following unit: Confusing Words Clarified: Group A; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. + (page 9)