Definitions for vicarious
vaɪˈkɛər i əs, vɪ-vi·car·i·ous

Princeton's WordNet(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. vicarious(adj)

   experienced at secondhand

   "read about mountain climbing and felt vicarious excitement"

2. vicarious(adj)

   occurring in an abnormal part of the body instead of the usual site involved in that function

   "vicarious menstruation"

3. vicarious(adj)

   suffered or done by one person as a substitute for another

   "vicarious atonement"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. vicarious(Adjective)

   Experienced or gained by the loss or to the consequence of another, such as through watching or reading.

   People experience vicarious pleasures through watching television.

2. vicarious(Adjective)

   Done on behalf of others

   The concept of vicarious atonement, that one person can atone for the sins of another, is found in many religions.

Origin: From vicārius "vicarious, substituted"

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Vicarious

   of or pertaining to a vicar, substitute, or deputy; deputed; delegated; as, vicarious power or authority

2. Vicarious

   acting of suffering for another; as, a vicarious agent or officer

3. Vicarious

   performed of suffered in the place of another; substituted; as, a vicarious sacrifice; vicarious punishment

4. Vicarious

   acting as a substitute; -- said of abnormal action which replaces a suppressed normal function; as, vicarious hemorrhage replacing menstruation

Origin: [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.]

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Vicarious

   "Vicarious" is a song by American rock band Tool. The song is the first single released from their fourth full-length studio album 10,000 Days. Debuting on April 17, 2006 on commercial radio, the seven-minute song entered the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart at #2. It received a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of vicarious in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of vicarious in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of vicarious in a Sentence

1. Yassine Aumerally:

   Experience is the best teacher- Personal but also vicarious

2. Lewis Mumford:

   Sport in the sense of a mass-spectacle, with death to add to the underlying excitement, comes into existence when a population has been drilled and regimented and depressed to such an extent that it needs at least a vicarious participation in difficult feats of strength or skill or heroism in order to sustain its waning life-sense.

3. Lewis Mumford:

   Unable to create a meaningful life for itself, the personality takes its own revenge: from the lower depths comes a regressive form of spontaneity: raw animality forms a counterpoise to the meaningless stimuli and the vicarious life to which the ordinary man is conditioned. Getting spiritual nourishment from this chaos of events, sensations, and devious interpretations is the equivalent of trying to pick through a garbage pile for food.

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