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 another4: 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