Word of the Day
: April 10, 2024vicarious
playWhat It Means
A vicarious emotion or experience is one felt by watching, hearing about, or reading about someone else rather than by doing something yourself.
// He felt a vicarious thrill as his daughter crossed the stage to accept her diploma.
vicarious in Context
“That Jagger can still sing and dance up a storm, at 80, is a triumph for him and should provide a vicarious thrill for anyone who attends a concert by the Rolling Stones next year.” — George Varga, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Dec. 2023
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PLAYDid You Know?
If you love to read adventure tales from the comfort of home, you’re already a pro at living vicariously, so throw on those readers and let us paint a picture. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to study language and share what you’ve learned with the world. You wake up and pour yourself a strong cup of coffee, and then the work begins. Today, you are tasked with understanding the history of vicarious. Your research confirms that this word originally described something having the function of a substitute—that is, something that serves instead of another thing—and that it comes from the Latin noun vicis, which means “change” or “stead.” What’s more, you learn that vicis is also the source of the English prefix vice- (as in “vice president”), meaning “one that takes the place of.” Keeping in mind the most common meaning of vicarious (“experienced through imaginative or sympathetic participation”), you write it all down so others can share in your experience. Mission accomplished!
Test Your Vocabulary with M-W Quizzes
Word Family Quiz
Fill in the blanks to complete a word that comes from the Latin noun vicis and that refers to the quality or state of being changeable: v _ c i _ _ i _ _ d e.
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