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avocation (s) (noun), avocations (pl)
1. A hobby or pastime; not one's normal work: Lynn’s avocation, after teaching in the morning, was working in her garden because she loved the fresh air, seeing the plants grow and enjoying it!
2. The opposite of one's career or occupation: Susan knitted scarves, caps and sweaters as an avocation, which was quite different to her job as a financial advisor, and she gave them to her friends as Christmas presents!
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".
A hobby that is used to make extra money.
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A subordinate occupation or diversion.
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Something that a person does in addition to his or her regular work; usually, for fun or as a hobby.
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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)