vicarious
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\n \n Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 10, 2024 is:\n \n
\n \n\n vicarious • \\vye-KAIR-ee-us\\ • adjective
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A vicarious emotion or experience is one felt by watching, hearing about, or reading about someone else rather than by doing something yourself.
\n\n// He felt a vicarious thrill as his daughter crossed the stage to accept her diploma.
\n\n\n \n \n\n Examples:
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\u201cThat 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.\u201d \u2014 George Varga, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Dec. 2023
\n \n \n\n Did you know?
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If you love to read adventure tales from the comfort of home, you\u2019re 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\u2019ve 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\u2014that is, something that serves instead of another thing\u2014and that it comes from the Latin noun vicis, which means \u201cchange\u201d or \u201cstead.\u201d What\u2019s more, you learn that vicis is also the source of the English prefix vice- (as in \u201cvice president\u201d), meaning \u201cone that takes the place of.\u201d Keeping in mind the most common meaning of vicarious (\u201cexperienced through imaginative or sympathetic participation\u201d), you write it all down so others can share in your experience. Mission accomplished!
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