vicariously

[ vahy-kair-ee-uhs-lee, vi- ]

adverb

1. through the experience of another person:

   Adventure novels transport us to strange lands, fraught with perilous situations and terrifying monsters we can vicariously vanquish.

Other Words From

• non·vi·car·i·ous·ly adverb
• un·vi·car·i·ous·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of vicariously¹

vicarious ( def ) + -ly

Example Sentences

I want to do this really badly and I probably should be doing this, and taking this knowledge and experience and this passion and doing it vicariously through other people, through artists.

From Ozy

Watching Blomdahl’s videos allowed me to live vicariously through someone who had successfully found the joyful moments that I hoped to emulate in my own space.

From Outside Online

Twitch may have started off as a platform for vicariously consumed spectacle—for watching other people shoot zombies or race cars as they played video games.

From Quartz

I experienced this vicariously in researching my own Sicilian American family, through interviews with elderly relatives.

From Time

Last October, when a friend was in Belize, I lived vicariously through his trip by peeking at his eBird checklists each day, and they brightened my mood amid dropping fall temperatures in New Mexico.

From Outside Online

But not even the threat of death can suppress the urge to live vicariously through Jack Dawson and James Bond.

From The Daily Beast

As far as Wurtzel is concerned, most millennials seem too removed from the day to day, too willing to live vicariously.

From The Daily Beast

Living vicariously through his teammates was better than being home, preoccupied each day with his eroding strength.

From The Daily Beast

Charles Swan is all about a man living vicariously through his daydreams.

From The Daily Beast

Watching her on TV, people will have lived through her vicariously.

From The Daily Beast

That kind of tripe was for the little Joe Dopes who got their thrills vicariously.

From Project Gutenberg

I think that at that moment I suffered vicariously in his scornful regard for all my countrymen.

From Project Gutenberg

And it is certainly patent to the most out-and-out sceptic that I shall have to get all my Romance vicariously.

From Project Gutenberg

If it be consistent with his nature to punish by substitution, what security is there that he will not reward vicariously?

From Project Gutenberg

There could be no surprises, no enigmatic delights, but vicariously he could be young again.

From Project Gutenberg