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Vicar vs Rector - What's the difference?

vicar | rector |

As nouns the difference between vicar and rector

is that vicar is in the Church of England, the priest of a parish, receiving a salary or stipend but not tithes while rector is in the Anglican Church, a cleric in charge of a parish and who owns the tithes of it.

As a proper noun Rector is

an English surname; derived from the German surname Richter.

vicar

English

Alternative forms

*

Noun

(en noun)
  • In the Church of England, the priest of a parish, receiving a salary or stipend but not tithes.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1907, author=
  • , title=The Dust of Conflict , chapter=20 citation , passage=Hester Earle and Violet Wayne were moving about the aisle with bundles of wheat-ears and streamers of ivy, for the harvest thanksgiving was shortly to be celebrated, while the vicar stood waiting for their directions on the chancel steps with a great handful of crimson gladioli.}}
  • *, chapter=12
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion […] such talk had been distressingly out of place.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1997, author=(Frank Muir), chapter=1, isbn=0552141372
  • , title= A Kentish Lad , passage=For this [annual choir outing] the vicar traditionally hired a brake, an ancient, Edwardian, horse-drawn, bus-like vehicle which had plodded along for many years between Ramsgate and Pegwell Bay, carrying passengers who were in no hurry, until it became so unroadworthy that no horse could be persuaded to pull it on a regular basis.}}
  • In the Roman Catholic and some other churches, a cleric acting as local representative of a higher ranking member of the clergy.
  • A person acting on behalf of, or is representing another person.
  • Derived terms

    * vicar apostolic * Vicar of Christ

    Anagrams

    * (l)

    rector

    English

    Alternative forms

    * rectour (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • In the Anglican Church, a cleric in charge of a parish and who owns the tithes of it.
  • * , chapter=10
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector' s face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.}}
  • In the Roman Catholic Church, a cleric with managerial as well as spiritual responsibility for a church or other institution.
  • A headmaster in various educational institutions, e.g. a university.