Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of vehicular
From the Late Latin word vehiculāris, dating back to 1610–20. See vehicle, -ar 1
Explanation
Use the adjective vehicular when you're talking about something that has to do with a car or truck. Vehicular traffic is simply the number of motorized vehicles on a certain road at the same time. Vehicular pollution is caused by the carbon emissions of automobile motors burning oil and gas, and vehicular accidents are the ones that involve cars, trucks, vans, buses, or motorcycles. You can see the noun vehicle when you look at the word vehicular, and that's what it's all about — from the Latin root vehiculum, "means of transport or vehicle."
Vocabulary lists containing vehicular
"Too Young to Drive?" and "Rules of the Road"
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2015 National Spelling Bee Words
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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.
City officials have closed the Peninsula area to vehicular traffic, except for residents until further notice as crews continue mitigation and response efforts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
I’m not one for vehicular envy, but while traveling a few weeks back, I couldn’t help but admire another man’s rickety Nissan Altima.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
But it also held that vehicular homicide–DUI is not “per se grave or serious” because it is a strict liability crime with no specific intent element.
From Slate ● Dec. 29, 2025
Some of them—Subaru, for example, with the Ascent, as well as Toyota, with Grand Highlander—build the vehicular equivalent of McMansions, offering a bulk space few families will ever fully occupy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
The long and short of it was this: I had access to the vehicular awesomeness that is a late-model Chrysler minivan, except for when my mom was driving it.
From "Paper Towns" by John Green
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.
