vicarious

adjective

vi·​car·​i·​ous vī-ˈker-ē-əs 

və-

1

: experienced or realized through imaginative or sympathetic participation in the experience of another

a vicarious thrill

2

a

: serving instead of someone or something else

b

: that has been delegated

vicarious authority

3

: performed or suffered by one person as a substitute for another or to the benefit or advantage of another : substitutionary

a vicarious sacrifice

4

: occurring in an unexpected or abnormal part of the body instead of the usual one

vicarious menstruation manifested by bleeding from the nose

vicariously adverb

vicariousness noun

Did you know?

Vicarious Has Latin Roots

If you love to read adventure tales from the comfort of home, you’re already a pro at living vicariously, so throw on those readers and let us paint a picture. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to study language and share what you’ve learned with the world. You wake up and pour yourself a strong cup of coffee, and then the work begins. Today, you are tasked with understanding the history of vicarious. Your research confirms that this word originally described something having the function of a substitute—that is, something that serves instead of another thing—and that it comes from the Latin noun vicis, which means “change” or “stead.” What’s more, you learn that vicis is also the source of the English prefix vice- (as in “vice president”), meaning “one that takes the place of.” Keeping in mind the most common meaning of vicarious (“experienced through imaginative or sympathetic participation”), you write it all down so others can share in your experience. Mission accomplished!

Examples of vicarious in a Sentence

I am a vicarious eater, often preferring a description of a meal to eating it. I hoard the Wednesday food section of the New York Times, savoring it as my late-night reading, finishing always with the restaurant review. —Anne-Marie Slaughter, Commonweal, 14 June 2002

Most people caged in the humdrum routines of modern life are eager for vicarious glimpses of pain, joy, and especially vitality. —Robert Jackall et al., Image Makers, 2000

There is an immense sub-middle class with enough money to preserve it from rancorous envy of the rich, but not enough to preserve it from boredom; it needs vicarious compensations and manages to find them in the gossip columns. —Aldous Huxley, The Olive Tree, 1937

To give himself the vicarious illusion of companionship, he fell back on letters. —Amy Lowell, John Keats, 1925

By means of ferocious jokes … he could vent his hatred of pioneer life and all its conditions, those conditions that were thwarting his creative life; he could, in this vicarious manner, appease the artist in him … —Van Wyck Brooks, The Ordeal of Mark Twain, 1920

Recent Examples on the Web

Conducting interviews with survivors of violence can leave the researcher with images, sounds and vicarious connections to trauma. —Christopher P. Davey, The Conversation, 6 Oct. 2025

Will this impact the vicarious thrill survivors feel when watching especially heinous crimes investigated by dedicated detectives and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law? —Scarlett Harris, Time, 25 Sep. 2025

Shamaya Jackson is suing Albany Medical Center for wrongful death, medical malpractice, vicarious liability, and lack of informed consent, claiming she was not told about treatments performed on her daughter Milani, who was admitted to the hospital multiple times in April for respiratory issues. —Cara Lynn Shultz, PEOPLE, 25 Sep. 2025

Halpern is also sensitive to the fact that some medical trainees endure a level of vicarious emotional experience that is overwhelming to the students and unhelpful to patients. —Rachel Pearson, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

1637, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Rhymes for vicarious

• aquarius
• cinereous
• gregarious
• hilarious
• malarious
• nefarious
• precarious
• carious
• scarious
• various
• multifarious

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Kids Definition

vicarious

adjective

vi·​car·​i·​ous vī-ˈker-ē-əs 

və-,

-ˈkar-

1

: serving or acting for another

2

: done or suffered for the benefit of someone else

a vicarious sacrifice

3

: sharing in someone else's experience through the use of the imagination or sympathetic feelings

vicarious joy

vicariously adverb

vicariousness noun

Medical Definition

vicarious

adjective

vi·​car·​i·​ous vī-ˈker-ē-əs, və-, -ˈkar- 

: occurring in an unexpected or abnormal part of the body instead of the usual one

bleeding from the gums sometimes occurs in the absence of the normal discharge from the uterus in vicarious menstruation

Legal Definition

vicarious

adjective

vi·​car·​i·​ous vī-ˈkar-ē-əs 

: imposed on one person in place of another see also vicarious liability at liability sense 2b

vicariously adverb

vicariousness noun