vehicle
Americannoun
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any means in or by which someone travels or something is carried or conveyed; a means of conveyance or transport.
a motor vehicle; space vehicles.
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a conveyance moving on wheels, runners, tracks, or the like, as a cart, sled, automobile, or tractor.
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a means of transmission or passage.
Air is the vehicle of sound.
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a carrier, as of infection.
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a medium of communication, expression, or display.
The novel is a fitting vehicle for his talents. Language is the vehicle of thought.
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Theater, Movies. a play, screenplay, or the like, having a role suited to the talents of and often written for a specific performer.
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a means of accomplishing a purpose.
College is a vehicle for success.
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Rhetoric. the thing or idea to which the subject of a metaphor is compared, as “rose” in “she is a rose.”
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Pharmacology. a substance, usually fluid, possessing little or no medicinal action, used as a medium for active remedies.
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Painting. a liquid, as oil, in which a pigment is mixed before being applied to a surface.
noun
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any conveyance in or by which people or objects are transported, esp one fitted with wheels
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a medium for the expression, communication, or achievement of ideas, information, power, etc
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pharmacol a therapeutically inactive substance mixed with the active ingredient to give bulk to a medicine
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Also called: base. a painting medium, such as oil, in which pigments are suspended
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(in the performing arts) a play, musical composition, etc, that enables a particular performer to display his talents
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a rocket excluding its payload
Pronunciation
Because the primary stress in vehicle is on the first syllable, the in the second syllable tends to disappear: . A pronunciation with primary stress on the second syllable and a fully pronounced is usually considered nonstandard: . In the adjective vehicular, where the primary stress is normally on the second syllable, the is always pronounced.
Other Word Forms
- vehicular adjective
Etymology
Origin of vehicle
First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin vehiculum, from veh(ere) “to carry, convey, ride” + -i- -i- + -culum -cle 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Nebraska law bars “any personal use whatsoever” of state-owned vehicles, and State Auditor Mike Foley is determined to slam the brakes on such “joyriding.”
Lin characterized the overnight comments from Beijing as a warning about Section 301 action against critical sectors like electric vehicles, rare earths, or artificial-intelligence chips.
From Barron's
About five minutes from his house, he decided to get out of the vehicle and drive his own car so he could take her home in the morning.
From BBC
Rocket Lab got a boost in late December after it was awarded an $816 million contract to provide 18 missile warning, tracking and defense space vehicles for the Space Development Agency.
From MarketWatch
The U.S. government is focused on increasing production of rare earth minerals, which are used in electric vehicles and smartphones, in an effort to remain competitive with China’s production of the products.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
