VICAR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does vicar mean? 

• VICAR (noun)
  The noun VICAR has 3 senses:

1. a Roman Catholic priest who acts for another higher-ranking clergyman

2. (Episcopal Church) a clergyman in charge of a chapel

3. (Church of England) a clergyman appointed to act as priest of a parish

  Familiarity information: VICAR used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VICAR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A Roman Catholic priest who acts for another higher-ranking clergyman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("vicar" is a kind of...):

priest (a clergyman in Christian churches who has the authority to perform or administer various religious rites; one of the Holy Orders)

Derivation:

vicarial (of or relating to or characteristic of a vicar)

vicarship (the religious institution under the authority of a vicar)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(Episcopal Church) a clergyman in charge of a chapel

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("vicar" is a kind of...):

clergyman; man of the cloth; reverend (a member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church)

Domain category:

Episcopal Church; Protestant Episcopal Church (United States church that is in communication with the see of Canterbury)

Derivation:

vicarial (of or relating to or characteristic of a vicar)

vicarship (the religious institution under the authority of a vicar)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(Church of England) a clergyman appointed to act as priest of a parish

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("vicar" is a kind of...):

clergyman; man of the cloth; reverend (a member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church)

Domain category:

Anglican Church; Anglican Communion; Church of England (the national church of England (and all other churches in other countries that share its beliefs); has its see in Canterbury and the sovereign as its temporal head)

Derivation:

vicarial (of or relating to or characteristic of a vicar)

vicarship (the religious institution under the authority of a vicar)

 Context examples 

I will turn the facts over in my mind, Mr. Tregennis, and should anything occur to me I will certainly communicate with you and the vicar.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I heard the vicar and my mother talking about it last week, and it was all so clear to me that I might have been there when the murder was done.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was summoned once for a savage assault upon the old vicar, who had called upon him to remonstrate with him upon his conduct.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Elton is a very good sort of man, and a very respectable vicar of Highbury, but not at all likely to make an imprudent match.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“Well, as you seem to have made the discovery, whatever it may be, and the vicar to have had it second-hand, perhaps you had better do the speaking,” said Holmes.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The vicar said that they saw on the ceiling—Oh, Jim, you can see it even now!

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mrs. Bates, the widow of a former vicar of Highbury, was a very old lady, almost past every thing but tea and quadrille.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Last year I came up to London for the Jubilee, and I stopped at a boarding-house in Russell Square, because Parker, the vicar of our parish, was staying in it.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“It was Mr. Roundhay, the vicar, who sent me the telegram which recalled me.”

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He could suit himself to his company, too, for on the one hand he could take his wine with the vicar, or with Sir James Ovington, the squire of the parish; while on the other he would sit by the hour amongst my humble friends down in the smithy, with Champion Harrison, Boy Jim, and the rest of them, telling them such stories of Nelson and his men that I have seen the Champion knot his great hands together, while Jim’s eyes have smouldered like the forge embers as he listened.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)