Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Experienced or felt by empathy with or imaginary participation in the life of another person.
- adjective Endured or done by one person substituting for another.
- adjective Committed or entrusted to another, as powers or authority; delegated.
- adjective Physiology Occurring in or performed by a part of the body not normally associated with a certain function.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of or belonging to a vicar or substitute; deputed; delegated: as, vicarious power or authority.
- Acting for or officially representing another: as, a vicarious agent or officer.
- Performed or suffered for another.
- In physiology, substitutive: noting the performance by one organ of the functions normally belonging to another; compensatory.
- In paleontology, said of representative, closely related species or genera of fossil organisms occurring in homotaxial formations of different faunal provinces.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to a vicar, substitute, or deputy; deputed; delegated.
- adjective Acting or suffering for another.
- adjective Performed ,experienced, or suffered in the place of another; substituted.
- adjective (Med.) Acting as a substitute; -- said of abnormal action which replaces a suppressed normal function.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Experienced orgained by the loss or to the consequence of another, such as throughwatching orreading . - adjective Done on
behalf of others
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective experienced at secondhand
- adjective suffered or done by one person as a substitute for another
- adjective occurring in an abnormal part of the body instead of the usual site involved in that function
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In fact, the term vicarious liability did not appear in the amended petition, and she charged all defendants, including Prime Holding, for the injuries.
Class Action Fairness Act Blog cafalawblog@mcglinchey.com (McGlinchey Stafford PL 2010
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I think if people are feeling sad or depressed or what we call vicarious traumatization, so that somebody else is traumatized and you vicariously experience the symptoms of post traumatic distress disorder, or acute stress disorder, then you need to talk to others for support, for counsel.
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But we come now to a matter which, to most minds, will be more remote and more difficult; viz., to the fact, that God has not only a character ever lastingly perfected in right, but that, by the same law, he is held to a suffering goodness for his enemies, even to that particular work in time, which we call the vicarious sacrifice of Christ.
The Vicarious Sacrifice, Grounded in Principles of Universal Obligation. 1802-1876 1871
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Sure, writing can be an exercise in vicarious living -- and genre fiction more than most.
Desperately Seeking | The Stiletto Gang The Stiletto Gang 2008
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He replied that the word vicarious was not used in the Scriptures, and queried what I understood by it.
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I told him that I understood its sense as used in relation to the atonement to mean that Jesus Christ suffered as a substitute for us by bearing the punishment due to sin, which I thought was not stated in the Scriptures, neither the word vicarious nor the idea conveyed by its being found there.
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IT is a matter of sorrowful indication, that the thing most wanting to be cleared in Christianity is still, as it ever has been, the principal thing; viz., the meaning and method of reconciliation itself, or of what is commonly called the vicarious sacrifice.
The Vicarious Sacrifice, Grounded in Principles of Universal Obligation. 1802-1876 1871
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Now the word vicarious is chosen to represent, and gather up into itself all these varieties of expression.
The Vicarious Sacrifice, Grounded in Principles of Universal Obligation. 1802-1876 1871
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What we call the vicarious sacrifice of Christ is nothing strange as regards the Nothing superlative in the principle of the cross. principle of it, no superlative, unexampled, and therefore unintelligible grace.
The Vicarious Sacrifice, Grounded in Principles of Universal Obligation. 1802-1876 1871
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Next in potency are what Bandura calls vicarious experiences, in which the individual sees others coping successfully with similar problems.
Planned Short-Term Treatment RICHARD A. WELLS 1994
bilby commented on the word vicarious
"Women all over the world have adopted, often in addition to their traditional accoutrements, four Western conventions: high-heeled shoes, lipstick, nail varnish and the brassiere. The success of all these fashions, which are not even remotely connected with comfort or common sense, is an indication of the worldwide acceptance of the Western notion that the principal duties of women are sexual attraction and vicarious leisure."
- 'One man's mutilation is another man's beautification', Germaine Greer in The Madwoman's Underclothes.
September 1, 2008