Meaning & use
living through you vicariously
Last updated
Meaning
phrasefixed phrase
Experiencing life indirectly by watching and identifying with you, rather than doing things yourself.
Grammar: Used after a form of 'be': 'He is living through you vicariously.' The pronoun changes with the person: living through me/him/them vicariously.
Patterns
- be living through someone vicariously
- live through someone vicariously
My mother never traveled, so now she is living through you vicariously on your trip.
He quit his own dreams years ago and is living through you vicariously as you train.
Stop living through you vicariously and sign up for the class yourself.
Common combinations
- living through someone vicariously
- She admits she is living through her students vicariously.
- live vicariously through someone
- Many parents live vicariously through their children.
- be accused of living vicariously
- The coach was accused of living vicariously through his players.
Synonyms and how they differ
- living in someone's shadow
- This means being less successful than someone close to you, not sharing their experiences.
- secondhand
- This describes experiences you get from others rather than doing them yourself, and is an adjective, not a verb phrase.
Opposites
Word family
- vicarious adjective
- experienced by watching someone else rather than by doing it yourself
- vicariously adverb
- in a way that involves watching or hearing about others' experiences
Commonly confused: living through you vicariously or living through something?
living through you vicariously vs living through something
This means surviving a difficult event, such as a war. 'Living through you vicariously' is about sharing someone's life, not surviving.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
The phrase needs a form of 'be' and the adverb 'vicariously': 'is living through you vicariously'. Option 1 is missing 'is', option 2 uses the simple present, which sounds wrong for a current situation, and option 3 uses the adjective 'vicarious' instead of the adverb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “living through you vicariously”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.