Word of the Day:

October 22, 2026

vocation

noun voh-KAY-shun

What it Means

Vocation can refer simply to an occupation, or it can refer to a strong calling to pursue a particular kind of work or course of action.

// Since he was a teenager, he knew that he would find his vocation in marine biology.

// She is headed to medical school to pursue her vocation as a doctor.

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Vocation in Context

“Through her education and her father’s encouragement, she had nurtured a vocation for literature and was determined to make a career for herself in the bundan, Japan’s literary elite …” — Bryan Karetnyk, introduction to Troubled Waters by Higuchi Ichiyō, 2026

More example sentences

Did You Know?

When vocation was first used in English in the 15th century it referred specifically to a summons from God to perform a particular task or function in life, especially a religious one. This meaning is no surprise given the word’s source: it comes from the Latin vocation-, vocacio, meaning “summons,” which in turn comes from vocāre, meaning “to call.” Vocation also has a non-religious function in the English language as a word for the strong desire to do a certain kind of work, or as a word for the work itself, making vocation a synonym of the words calling and occupation.