Meaning & use
to live vicariously
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiom
to enjoy or experience something indirectly by watching or hearing about what another person does
Grammar: Used as a fixed phrase, often followed by 'through someone': live vicariously through your children.
Patterns
- live vicariously through someone
- live vicariously through something
She never became a dancer, so she lives vicariously through her students.
Many fans live vicariously through the athletes they follow online.
He lives vicariously through his brother's travel stories.
Common combinations
- live vicariously through someone
- As a parent, it is easy to live vicariously through your child.
- live vicariously through someone's success
- The coach lived vicariously through his players' success.
- live vicariously through social media
- Some people live vicariously through social media instead of making their own plans.
- live vicariously through a character
- Readers often live vicariously through a character in a novel.
Synonyms and how they differ
- experience indirectly
- This is a plain explanation rather than a set phrase; it does not carry the same idea of sharing someone else's life.
- identify with
- This means to feel connected to someone, but it does not necessarily mean enjoying their experiences as your own.
Word family
- vicarious adjective
- experienced through another person rather than directly
- vicariously adverb
- in a way that is experienced through someone else
Commonly confused: to live vicariously or vicariously liable?
to live vicariously vs vicariously liable
In law, this means legally responsible for another person's actions; it is a technical legal phrase, not the everyday idiom.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'to live vicariously' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The idiom is 'live vicariously through someone'. 'Through' shows the person whose experiences you share; the other prepositions do not fit this fixed phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “to live vicariously”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.