Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Vicar |
VicarNoun1. A Roman Catholic priest who acts for another higher-ranking clergyman. 2. (US Episcopal Church) a clergyman in charge of a chapel. 3. (Church of England) a clergyman appointed to act as priest of a parish. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "vicar" was first used: 13th century. (references) |
Etymology: Vicar \Vic"ar\, noun. [from Old English expression vicar, viker, vicair, French vicaire, from the Latin expression vicarius. See Vicarious.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of a vicar, foretells that you will do foolish things while furious with jealousy and envy. For a young woman to dream she marries a vicar, foretells that she will fail to awake reciprocal affection in the man she desires, and will live a spinster, or marry to keep from being one. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Literature | Vicar Rector, one who receives both great and small tithes. Vicar receives only the small tithes. At the Reformation many livings which belonged to monasteries passed into the hands of noblemen, who, not being in holy orders, had to perform the sacred offices vicariously. The clergyman who officiated for them was called their vicar or representative, and the law enjoined that the lord should allow him to receive the use of the glebe and all tithes except those accruing from grain (such as corn, barley, oats, rye, etc.), hay, and wood. The term Vicar is now applied to the minister of a district church, though he receives neither great nor small tithes; his stipend arising partly from endowment, partly from pew-rents, and in part from fees, voluntary contributions, offerings, and so on. The vicar of a pope is a Vicar-apostolic, and the vicar of a bishop is a curate or vicar in charge. A lay vicar is a cathedral officer who sings certain portions of the service. The Pope is called the "Vicar of Christ." Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In the broadest sense, a vicar is anyone who is acting as a substitute or agent for a superior. In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant. Usually the title appears in a number of Christian ecclesiastical contexts.The Pope uses the title Vicarius Christi, meaning, the vicar of Jesus Christ. They first used this title in the eighth century; earlier they used the title vicar of St. Peter or vicarius principis apostolorum, the vicar of the chief of the apostles.
Some papal legates are honoured by the title Vicar of the Apostolic See.
In the Anglican communion, vicar is the ordinary title given to certain parish priests. Historically, Anglican parish clergymen were divided into rectors, vicars and perpetual curates. These were distinguished according to the way in which they were remunerated. The church was supported by tithes - taxes (traditionally of 10%) levied on the agricultural output of the parish. These were divided into greater tithes levied on wheat, hay and wood, and lesser tithes levied on the remainder. A rector received both greater and lesser tithes, a vicar the lesser tithes only. A perpetual curate received no tithe income and was supported by the diocese. The adjective perpetual emphasises that such a clergyman enjoyed the same security of tenure as his more affluent peers. An Act of Parliament of 1868 permitted perpetual curates to style themselves vicars. The conjunction of this change with near-contemporaneous church reforms aimed at reducing the disparities of income among clergymen meant that the distinction between the grades of clergymen became progressively less relevant and remarked upon.
In either tradition, a vicar can be the priest of a chapel, a church which is not a parish church.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Vicar."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Clergy | Dignitaries of the church; ecclesiarch, hierarch; ebdomarius; eminence, reverence, elder, primate, metropolitan, archbishop, bishop, prelate, diocesan, suffragan, dean, subdean, archdeacon, prebendary, canon, rural dean, rector, parson, vicar, perpetual curate, residentiary, beneficiary, incumbent, chaplain, curate; deacon, deaconess; preacher, reader, lecturer; capitular; missionary, propagandist, Jesuit, revivalist, field preacher. |
Deputy | Regent, viceregent, vizier, minister, vicar; premier; (director); chancellor, prefect, provost, warden, lieutenant, archon, consul, proconsul; viceroy; (governor); commissioner; Tsung-li Yamen, Wai Wu Pu; plenipotentiary, alter ego. |
Director | Secretary, secretary of state; Reis Effendi; vicar; (deputy); steward, factor; agent; bailiff, middleman; foreman, clerk of works; landreeve; factotum, major-domo, seneschal, housekeeper, shepherd, croupier; proctor, procurator. |
Servility | Sycophant, parasite; toad, toady, toad-eater; tufthunter; snob, flunky, flunkey, yes-man, lapdog, spaniel, lickspittle, smell-feast, Graeculus esuriens, hanger on, cavaliere servente, led captain, carpet knight; timeserver, fortune hunter, Vicar of Bray, Sir-Pertinax, Max Sycophant, pickthank; flatterer; doer of dirty work; ame damnee, tool; reptile; slave; (servant); courtier; beat, dead beat, doughface , heeler, homme de cour, sponger, sucker, tagtail, truckler. |
Tergiversation | Time server, time pleaser; timist, Vicar of Bray, trimmer, ambidexter;time server, time pleaser; timist, Vicar of Bray, trimmer, ambidexter; weathercock; (changeable); Janus. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Vicar |
| English words defined with "vicar": Altarist ♦ Grand vicar ♦ parsonage, Peter ♦ Real composition, rectory ♦ Saint Peter, Saint Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Spiritual incest, St Peter, St Peter the Apostle ♦ Unvicar ♦ Vicar forane, vicarage, vicarial, Vicarian, vicariate, vicarship, Vicary. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "vicar": Bowden, Boz, Burchell ♦ Cat Proverbs, Clerical Titles ♦ Glaucus' Swop, GREY PARSON ♦ Jenkinson ♦ Moses Primrose ♦ Parson Trulliber ♦ Rector ♦ Sagan of Jerusalem, Skeggs ♦ Upsee-Dutch ♦ Vicar of Bray, Vicar of Wakefield. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "vicar": Vicarian. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Vicar" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. Romanian (vicar). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | It is fate, but call it Italy if it pleases you, Vicar. (A Room with a View; writing credit: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. based on the novel by E.M. Forster.) And your vicar can have it for the fabric of his kirche (Dad's Army; writing credit: David Croft; Jimmy Perry) The vicar won't be home for hours (Friends; writing credit: Jörn O. Jensen; Birger Larsen) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Vicar of Bray (1937) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
![]() | A Well-fed vicar tired with thinking,/ And fairly overcome by drinking;... / [John Collier]. Credit: National Library of Medicine. | ![]() | The vicar being visited by his family in prison. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | Mrs. Bates, the widow of a former vicar of Highbury, was a very old lady, almost past every thing but tea and quadrille |
Sylvie and Bruno Concluded | Carroll, Lewis | We were back again at the Hall by eight in the morning, and found Lady Muriel and the Earl, and the old Vicar, waiting for us. |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Once, during Lent, a young vicar came to D__, and preached in the cathedral |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | RECTOR, n. In the Church of England, the Third Person of the parochial Trinity, the Cruate and the Vicar being the other two. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Vicar" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 92.57% of the time. "Vicar" is used about 820 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 92.57% | 759 | 9,024 |
| Noun (proper) | 7.43% | 61 | 43,149 |
| Total | 100.00% | 820 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "vicar": Apostolic vicar ♦ cardinal vicar ♦ Grand vicar ♦ the vicar of bray ♦ the vicar of christ ♦ vicar apostolic ♦ vicar forane ♦ vicar general ♦ vicar of christ ♦ vicar of Jesus Christ. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "vicar": vicar-apostolic, vicar-choral, vicar-general. | |
Ending with "vicar": ex-vicar. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
the vicar of dibley | 60 |
vicar | 26 |
vicar of wakefield | 13 |
street vicar | 9 |
dublin street vicar | 6 |
christ vicar | 5 |
bray vicar | 4 |
spain vicar | 4 |
parochial vicar | 3 |
general vicar | 3 |
summary vicar wakefield | 3 |
dibley dvd vicar | 2 |
mac robiina vicar | 2 |
vicar of dibley the v.3 the special | 2 |
forane vicar | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "vicar"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | vikar, zëvendës (deputy, first mate, lieutenant, locum tenens, substitute), famullitar (parson, rector). (various references) | |
Arabic | كاهن (cassock, clergyman, clerical, cohen, ecclesiastic, minister, parson, presbyter, priest, rector, reverend), ممثل (actor, agent, delegate, deputy, performer, player, rep, representative, stager, star), نائب (acting, agent, delegate, junior, procurator, representative, surrogate), قسيس (clergyman, curate, pastor, priest), قس (clergyman, minister, priest), وكيل (agent, dealer, deputy, junior, mandatary, procurator, representative). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | свещеник (camister, cassock, chaplain, clergyman, dominie, minister, parson, pastor, presbyter, priest, secular, sky pilot), викарий, наместник, пастор (clergyman, minister, parson, pastor). (various references) | |
Chinese | 教区牧师. (various references) | |
Czech | vikář (curate), farář (parson). (various references) | |
Dutch | pastoor (clergyman, pastor, priest). (various references) | |
Esperanto | parokestro (pastor), paroĥestro (pastor). (various references) | |
Farsi | معاون (Accessory, Adjunct, Assistant, Helpmeet, Secondbest), نایب مناب , کشیش بخش (Parson, Rector), قاءم مقام (Deputy, Successor, Surrogate), خلیفه (Caliph, Prelate), جانشین (Deputy, Pinch, Relief, Substitute, Surrogate, Vicarious). (various references) | |
Finnish | kirkkoherra (parson, rector). (various references) | |
French | vicaire, pasteur, curé. (various references) | |
Frisian | pastoar (clergyman, pastor, priest). (various references) | |
German | Vikar (curate). (various references) | |
Greek | εφημέριοσ (chaplain, curare, ephemeral, parson, rector), εφημέριος (chaplain, parson), αναπληρωτήσ κληρικού. (various references) | |
Hebrew | כו"ן (minister, parson, priest). (various references) | |
Hungarian | anglikán lelkész (clergyman). (various references) | |
Italian | curato (clergyman, curate, groomed, pastor, priest, tidy, trimly). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 代理牧師 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | いりぼくし. (various references) | |
Manx | viggar, saggyrt (churchman, clergyman, clerk holy orders; lesser black backed gull; grey gurnard, clerk; lesser black backed gull; grey gurnard, padre, parson, priest). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | icarvay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | vigário (parson, pastor, swindle), pároco (pastor), cura (parson, pastor, priest, recovery, repair, restoration, seasoning). (various references) | |
Romanian | vicar, preot (Canon, chaplain, clergyman, cleric, curate, devil-dodger, divine, father, incumbent, minister, padre, parson, pastor, pope, preacher, prelate, presbyter, priest, rector, Reverend, rook), paroh (parson), om al tuturor regimurilor. (various references) | |
Russian | викарий (curate, suffragan). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | vikar, zamenik (assistant, associate, deputy, fill in, lieutenant, locum tenens, nizam, stand in, standby, substitute, substitution), sveštenik (churchman, clergyman, cleric, ecclesiastic, minister, pastor, priest, reverend), paroh (curate, parishioner, parson, priest), namesnik (deputy, lieutenant, satrap). (various references) | |
Spanish | vicario (surrogate, vicarious), cura (churchman, clergyman, curate, cure, dominie, josser, medication, parson, pastor, priest, Reverend, treatment). (various references) | |
Swedish | kyrkoherde (parson, pastor, rector). (various references) | |
Turkish | vekil (administrator, alternate, assignee, attorney, commissary, commissioner, delegate, deputy, lieutenant, locum, locum tenens, minister, nominee, proxy, representative, stand in, substitute, supply, surrogate, vice, vice gerent), papaz yardımcısı (curate), mahalle papazı (incumbent, rector). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | вікарій (suffragan), парафіяльний священик (rector). (various references) | |
Welsh | ficer. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | vicarius. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "vicar": vicarage, vicarages, vicarate, vicarates, vicarial, vicariance, vicariances, vicariant, vicariants, vicariate, vicariates, vicarious, vicariously, vicariousness, vicariousnesses, vicarly, vicars, vicarship, vicarships. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "vicar": subvicar. (additional references) | |
Words containing "vicar": subvicars. (additional references) | |
| |
"Vicar" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: gvcac, icar, iccpr, ivar, jicaro, Jictar, Kilcar, picar, Vaca, vacare, vacas, Vaccaro, vaccary, vasar, vca, veca, viar, viard, vica, vican, vicara, Vicari, Vicary, vicca, viccar, vicera, Vicharn, Vicia, vicie, vicir, vicit, vico, vicor, vicre, vicur, vigar, vika, vikar, Vikas, viker, vikor, viscar, visir, vissar, vivaria, Vivary, vizar, Vizard, vocab, voicer. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "vicar" (pronounced vi"ker) |
| 3 | -i" k er | Bicker, clicker, Dicker, flicker, kicker, licker, liquor, picker, quicker, sicker, slicker, snicker, sticker, thicker, ticker, whicker, wicker. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-i-r-v" | |
-1 letter: vair. | |
-2 letters: air, arc, car, ria, vac, var, via. | |
-3 letters: ai, ar. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-i-r-v" | |
+1 letter: caviar, vicars. | |
+2 letters: agravic, archive, avarice, carving, caviare, caviars, caviler, chivari, clavier, corvina, craving, privacy, valeric, varices, vicarly, viscera. | |
+3 letters: acervuli, achiever, archival, archived, archives, avarices, avicular, calvaria, carnival, carvings, cavalier, caviares, cavicorn, cavilers, caviller, cavitary, cervical, chivalry, chivaree, claviers, corrival, corvinas, cravings, creative, cultivar, curative, maverick, navicert, nirvanic, reactive, subvicar, tovarich, tractive, vampiric, variance, varicose, veracity, veronica, vertical, vibrance, vibrancy, vicarage, vicarate, vicarial, vicenary, victoria, visceral, voracity, vortical. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.