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Vicarious: meaning, example and synonyms

Vicariousadj. Experienced through imagining another person's actions or feelings.

Flashcard for Vicarious (adjective): experienced through imagining another person's actions or feelings. Example: Confined to the hospital for months, the young patient took vicarious pleasure in his sister's letters describing her travels across the mountains. Synonyms: secondhand, indirect, empathetic, surrogate. Antonyms: firsthand, direct, personal. Memory tip: Vicar = substitute: you feel it through a substitute. Illustration: a fully clothed boy sitting up in a hospital bed smiling at a photograph of snowy mountains, imagining himself hiking there in a dreamy cloud above his head.

Example

Confined to the hospital for months, the young patient took vicarious pleasure in his sister's letters describing her travels across the mountains.

Part of speech
adjective
Synonyms
secondhand, indirect, empathetic, surrogate
Antonyms
firsthand, direct, personal
Memory tip
Vicar = substitute: you feel it through a substitute.

Vicarious is in batch 12. Study it with the rest of the batch, then pass the batch quiz to learn it. No account needed; progress is saved on this device.

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Check yourself: Vicarious in context

Pick the word that best completes each text.

Question 1

Many sports fans experience ______ triumph when their team wins, celebrating a victory they did nothing to earn on the field.

Question 2

Adventure novels offer readers thrills that are ______: they share the danger of a mountain ascent without ever leaving their armchairs.

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