vicarious

English

WOTD – 16 September 2006

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /vɪˈkɛəɹi.əs/
(US) IPA^(key): /vaɪˈkɛ(ə)ɹi.əs/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛəriəs

Adjective

vicarious (not comparable)

Delegated.
Experienced or gained by the loss or to the consequence of another person, rather than through first-hand experience, such as through watching or reading.
People experience vicarious pleasures through watching television.
- 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 10, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:
  The pleasures which I made haste to seek in my disguise were, as I have said, undignified; I would scarce use a harder term. But in the hands of Edward Hyde, they soon began to turn toward the monstrous. When I would come back from these excursions, I was often plunged into a kind of wonder at my vicarious depravity.
On behalf of others.
The concept of vicarious atonement, that one person can atone for the sins of another, is found in many religions.
- 1900, James Frazer, chapter 26, in The Golden Bough:
  As time went on, the cruel custom was so far mitigated that a ram was accepted as a vicarious sacrifice in room of the royal victim.
- 1920, H. Rider Haggard, chapter III, in The Blue Curtains:
  In these, however, he had not much time to indulge, for a footman, still decked in the trappings of vicarious grief, opened the door with the most startling promptitude, and he was ushered upstairs into a small but richly furnished room.

Derived terms

vicarious atonement
vicarious embarrassment
vicarious learning

vicarious liability
vicarious reinforcement

Related terms

vicar
vicariously

Translations

experienced or gained by the loss or to the consequence of another

Czech: zástupný
Dutch: indirect (nl), overgedragen (nl)

French: indirect (fr)
Russian: замещающий (ru) (zameščajuščij)

done on behalf of others

Dutch: plaatsvervangend (nl)
Finnish: toisen puolesta tehty

Georgian: სხვის ნაცვლად შესრულებული (sxvis nacvlad šesrulebuli)
Japanese: 身代わりの (migawari-no)
Portuguese: vicário (pt)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 赎罪的, ^{(please verify)} 替代的, ^{(please verify)} 代理的

Spanish: ^{(please verify)} vicario (es)

References

vicarious in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.