Vicar

//ˈvɪkɚ// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    In the Church of England, the priest of a parish, receiving a salary or stipend but not tithes.

    "Near-synonyms: priest, rector, curate"

  2. 2
    a Roman Catholic priest who acts for another higher-ranking clergyman wordnet
  3. 3
    In the Roman Catholic and some other churches, a cleric acting as local representative of a higher ranking member of the clergy.
  4. 4
    (Church of England) a clergyman appointed to act as priest of a parish wordnet
  5. 5
    A person acting on behalf of, or representing, another person.

    "Near-synonyms: proxy, representative, agent"

Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    (Episcopal Church) a clergyman in charge of a chapel wordnet

Example

More examples

"The vicar often refers to the Bible in his sermon."

Etymology

From Middle English vicar, viker, vikyr, vicaire, vicare, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman vikare, vicare, vikaire, vikere and Old French vicaire (“deputy, second in command”), from Latin vicārius (“vicarious, substitute”).

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.