Vicarious

//vɪˈkɛəɹi.əs// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Delegated. not-comparable
  2. 2
    Experienced or gained by taking in another person’s experience rather than through first-hand experience, such as through watching or reading. not-comparable

    "People experience vicarious pleasures through watching television."

  3. 3
    On behalf of others. not-comparable

    "The concept of vicarious atonement, that one person can atone for the sins of another, is found in many religions."

Adjective
  1. 1
    suffered or done by one person as a substitute for another wordnet
  2. 2
    occurring in an abnormal part of the body instead of the usual site involved in that function wordnet
  3. 3
    experienced at secondhand wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
secondaryabnormalalternatealternativeassignedbackup

Example

More examples

"Bruno's football trophies will be dearer to him than his own children until they earn football trophies of their own, which, by the principles of vicarious parenting, Bruno will consider his. In fact, all of the football trophies Bruno considers his are actually his children's."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vicārius (“vicarious, substituted”), 17th century.

Related phrases

vicarious atonementvicarious embarrassmentvicarious learningvicarious liabilityvicarious punishmentvicarious reinforcementon behalf of

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.