adjective
vicarious
Experienced through another person rather than firsthand.
The woman enjoys a vicarious thrill while watching a roller-coaster rider on television.
Etymology
The substitute idea extends to experience. Another person's feelings or actions provide the indirect route through which one experiences an event.
In context
He observes that I entertain other people, and since the happiness of others is the only thing he cares a brass button about, in this vicarious sense I please him too.
More examples
- The travel diary offered vicarious adventures.
- His stories gave us a vicarious taste of life at sea.
- Watching the champion win brought her vicarious satisfaction.
Forms
vicarious
Similar words
- empathetic
- Empathetic feeling involves understanding another's emotions; vicarious experience involves living through another's activity.
- firsthand
- Firsthand experience is direct; vicarious experience comes through someone else.