vicariousvi‧car‧i‧ous /vɪˈkeəriəs $ vaɪˈker-/ adjective [only before noun] 
the vicarious pleasure that parents get from their children’s success—vicariously adverb
WORD ORIGINvicarious
Origin:
1600-1700 Latin vicarius ‘acting in place of another’, from vicis ‘change, alternation, position’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Many people enjoyed the vicarious thrill of military victory.
- Mothers often get some vicarious pleasure from their children's success.
- Disapproving as he was, he still seems to have found vicarious excitement in talking weapons.
- Inevitably though, these disguises inspired in readers a sense of vicarious danger or disgust.
Longman Language Activatorexperienced or done through someone else, not personally
if you hear about something second-hand , you hear about it from another person or by reading about it, for example in a newspaper: · I was abroad at the time, so I got the news second-hand.· We only learnt about their divorce second-hand from some mutual friends.
use this when describing something that you do not do, learn, or experience yourself, but through someone else: · Since he left his wife Rick has only had indirect contact with his children.
: vicarious pleasure/satisfaction/excitement etc pleasure etc experienced by watching or reading about someone else doing something, rather than by doing it yourself: · Mothers often get some vicarious pleasure from their children's success.· Many people enjoyed the vicarious thrill of military victory.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY the vicarious pleasure that parents get from their children’s successCOLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
experienced by watching or reading about someone else doing something, rather than by doing it yourselfvicarious pleasure/satisfaction/excitement etc the vicarious pleasure that parents get from their children’s success (=one which you get when you watch or hear about someone else doing something exciting)· He clearly enjoyed the vicarious thrill of reading about grisly murders.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSNOUN· He sued the defendants on the grounds of their vicarious liability for his brother's negligence and breach of statutory duty.· This resulted in a strict demarcation between the employer's personal duty and his vicarious liability.· The local health authority accepted vicarious liability for this protocol.
· I laugh a lot, throwing my head back with vicarious pleasure at many of these stories.· The sense in which he has created it - by writing the poem - is acknowledged to be simply vicarious pleasure.
the vicarious pleasure that parents get from their children’s success—vicariously adverb