Main Entry: vi·car·i·ous

Pronunciation: \vī-ˈker-ē-əs, və-\

Function: adjective

Etymology: Latin vicarius, from vicis change, alternation, stead — more at week

Date: 1637

1 a : serving instead of someone or something else b : that has been delegated <vicarious authority>
2 : performed or suffered by one person as a substitute for another or to the benefit or advantage of another : substitutionary <a vicarious sacrifice>
3 : experienced or realized through imaginative or sympathetic participation in the experience of another
4 : occurring in an unexpected or abnormal part of the body instead of the usual one <vicarious menstruation manifested by bleeding from the nose>

— vi·car·i·ous·ly adverb

— vi·car·i·ous·ness noun