vicarious

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: vi=car=i=ous

CIDE DICTIONARY

vicarious, a. [L. vicarius, from vicis change, alternation, turn, the position, place, or office of one person as assumed by another; akin to Gr. e'i`kein to yield, give way, G. wechsel a change, and probably also to E. weak. See Weak, and cf. Vice, prep.].

•  Of or pertaining to a vicar, substitute, or deputy; deputed; delegated; as, vicarious power or authority.  [1913 Webster]
•  Acting or suffering for another; as, a vicarious agent or officer.  [1913 Webster]

  "The soul in the body is but a subordinate efficient, and vicarious . . . in the hands of the Almighty."  [1913 Webster]
•  Performed ,experienced, or suffered in the place of another; substituted; as, a vicarious sacrifice; vicarious punishment; vicarious pleasure.  [1913 Webster]

  "The vicarious work of the Great Deliverer."  [1913 Webster]
•  Acting as a substitute; -- said of abnormal action which replaces a suppressed normal function; as, vicarious hemorrhage replacing menstruation.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

vicarious, adj.
1 experienced in the imagination through another person (vicarious pleasure).
2 acting or done for another (vicarious suffering).
3 deputed, delegated (vicarious authority).

Derivative

vicariously adv. vicariousness n.

Etymology

L vicarius: see VICAR

THESAURUS

vicarious

alternate, alternative, assigned, backup, commissioned, counterfeit, delegated, dummy, equivalent, ersatz, fake, imitation, indirect, makeshift, mock, phony, pinch, provisional, proxy, reserve, secondary, spare, stopgap, substitute, substituted, surrogate, temporary, tentative, token, utility

ROGET THESAURUS

vicarious

Substitution

N substitution, commutation, supplanting, metaphor, metonymy, substitute, ersatz, makeshift, temporary expedient, replacement, succedaneum, shift, pis aller, stopgap, jury rigging, jury mast, locum tenens, warming pan, dummy, scapegoat, double, changeling, quid pro quo, alternative, representative, palimpsest, price, purchase money, consideration, equivalent, substituted, ersatz, phony, vicarious, subdititious, instead, in place of, in lieu of, in the stead of, in the room of, faute de mieux.