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The definition of "Extracurricular":

not falling within the scope of a regular curriculum; specifically: of or relating to officially or semiofficially approved and usually organized student activities (as athletics) connected with school and usually carrying no academic credit

The word I'm looking for might have this definition:

not falling within the scope of a regular work life; specifically: of or relating to organized activities unassociated with the company one works for

Essentially, non-work hobbies that one has during the period of life when a person holds a job and is no longer in school. I understand that "extracurricular" can be used outside of a curricular context, but it seems to be a stretch of the word.

A Google search reveals a single forced usage of the hyphenated word "extra-career". This is more or less what I'm going for.

Example sentence:

Thomas, you need to get involved in some [non-work related] activities if you want to meet people.

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  • @AndyT, thanks, the problem is in the question itself. I misread the very definition I quoted. I had the incorrect idea that "extracurricular" activities could have no relation to a school at all, but it appears that, say, a sports club completely unrelated to the school wouldn't fall under the realm of "extracurricular", just a recreational activity.
    – gkubed
    Feb 7, 2017 at 15:49
  • @AndyT although it's not really what I originally sought out for, I edited the question so that it no longer contradicts itself. Thanks.
    – gkubed
    Feb 7, 2017 at 15:59
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    Also, as a comment because I'm not sure it's good enough for an answer, you can just use "extracurricular" for non-work activities. Per dictionary.com: "outside one's regular work, responsibilities, or routine"
    – AndyT
    Feb 7, 2017 at 16:13
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    @AndyT thanks, I've edited the post to mean what I actually originally wanted. I realized extracurricular could be used for work, but with "curricular" in the word itself, it seems like a stretch.
    – gkubed
    Feb 7, 2017 at 16:21

3 Answers 3

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I opine that extraprofessional is as close as you are going to get to extracurricular. Both are formed using the same prefixes appended to adjectives for what you are describing. The word is found in both the 1896 printing of the Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (C.D.C.) and the 1913 printing of Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. The C.D.C. entry for the word is this:

Extraprofessional ([…]) a. Not included within in the ordinary professional interests or duty.

 Molina was an ecclesiastic, and these studies were extraprofessional.  Med. Repos.


Naturally, I consider extraprofessional an apt substitute for extra-career since professional is the adjectival form of profession, and profession is considered a synonym of career by Roget's 21st century Thesaurus. The reason I am preferring an adjectival form is because curricular is the adjectival form of the noun curriculum according to the American Heritage Dictionary 5th edition, and I suspect the reason extra-career seems forced is because it's probably being parsed as a noun.

Although I could not find a more recent dictionary with the word, I believe it is a morphologically obvious construction, as both use the same prefix applied to frequently used adjectives and Google Ngrams seems to indicate that the word was used with increasing frequency up until the late 1970s, and despite declining usage, it seems to be at least as popular today as it was around the turn of the 20th century:

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    I really like this answer. I didn't know extraprofessional was a word. It should make a comeback!
    – gkubed
    Feb 7, 2017 at 18:23
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For an adjective similar to extra-curricular, you should check recreational.

Thomas, you need to get involved in some recreational activities if you want to meet people your age.

If a noun is acceptable, you may use hobbies/pastimes.

Thomas, you need to get involved in some hobbies/pastimes if you want to meet people your age.

ODO:

recreational ADJECTIVE

1 Relating to or denoting activity done for enjoyment when one is not working.

‘recreational cycling in the countryside’

hobby NOUN

1 An activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure.
‘her hobbies are reading and gardening’

pastime NOUN

An activity that someone does regularly for enjoyment rather than work; a hobby.
‘his favorite pastimes were shooting and golf’

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Avocational is the adjective for avocation:

a hobby or minor occupation.

Compare with vocation:

a person's employment or main occupation.

Both definitions are NOAD.

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