vicarious
performed, exercised, received, or suffered in place of another: vicarious punishment.
taking the place of another person or thing; acting or serving as a substitute.
felt or enjoyed through imagined participation in the experience of others: a vicarious thrill.
Physiology. noting or pertaining to a situation in which one organ performs part of the functions normally performed by another.
Origin of vicarious
1Other words from vicarious
- vi·car·i·ous·ly, adverb
- vi·car·i·ous·ness, vi·car·i·ism, noun
- non·vi·car·i·ous, adjective
- non·vi·car·i·ous·ness, noun
- un·vi·car·i·ous, adjective
- un·vi·car·i·ous·ness, noun
Words Nearby vicarious
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use vicarious in a sentence
This is evidence of “vicarious traumatization,” Sood says, which can occur when a child hears about a tragedy or sees images of it—even if they don’t experience it firsthand.
One of the perks of the job, Goucher told me, was getting a vicarious thrill of being close to the action of elite-level competition.
Acknowledging vicarious trauma and weathering in refugees and migrants from instability itself is important.
Migrants and Refugees Face an Invisible Trauma We Can’t Ignore | Gunisha Kaur | October 21, 2021 | TimeI collected bits of them, but my blitz was safely vicarious.
Life Under Air Strikes: Children Under Fire Will Never Forget — or Forgive | Clive Irving | August 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut the old city, site of the bull run, has the inevitable trappings of a theme park for aficionados of the vicarious kind.
David, I want to shake you and say, do not use our lives as vicarious proof for your consumer conservatism.
David Brooks In The Supermarket Aisles Of Judaism | Gershom Gorenberg | March 13, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTHe reads biographies, he dreams of great men—a vicarious pleasure, presumably.
But the appeal of Harlequins is more than just vicarious sex.
How ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Is Shaking Up the Business of the Romance Genre | Chris Berube | June 6, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTYou may think I'm offering myself as a sort of vicarious atonement—if your Doris fails you—but I'm not, really.
The Hidden Places | Bertrand W. SinclairThis always occasioned a double execution, for the wrath or revenge of Louis was never satisfied with a vicarious punishment.
Quentin Durward | Sir Walter ScottHere are three measures of subjugation, all flowing from the same fountain of Principle—vicarious government by a feudal superior.
The Trial of Theodore Parker | Theodore ParkerTo-day he was in the state of mind when even vicarious good 202 deeds are a support and a consolation.
In Connection with the De Willoughby Claim | Frances Hodgson BurnettThe scandalmonger, inhibited from doing the forbidden thing, enjoys himself by a vicarious indulgence in rottenness.
The Behavior of Crowds | Everett Dean Martin
British Dictionary definitions for vicarious
/ (vɪˈkɛərɪəs, vaɪ-) /
obtained or undergone at second hand through sympathetic participation in another's experiences
suffered, undergone, or done as the substitute for another: vicarious punishment
delegated: vicarious authority
taking the place of another
pathol (of menstrual bleeding) occurring at an abnormal site: See endometriosis
Origin of vicarious
1Derived forms of vicarious
- vicariously, adverb
- vicariousness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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