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PlainSpell

vicarious

/vɪˈkɛəɹi.əs/adjective

vicarious is spelled V-I-C-A-R-I-O-U-S: 9 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,073rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, vicarious means “Delegated” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in vicarious?

Letters9: V-I-C-A-R-I-O-U-S
Syllables4 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 3 million words; the 47,073rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is vicarious?

Vicarious appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,073rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce vicarious?

  • US /vɪˈkɛəɹi.əs/
  • US /vaɪˈkɛəɹi.əs/
  • /vaɪˈkɛɹi.əs/

Vicarious has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-vicarious.ogg, En-au-vicarious.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with vicarious?

8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as vicarious from its last stressed vowel (/ɛəɹiəs/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

What does vicarious mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Delegated.

  2. 2

    Experienced or gained by taking in another person’s experience rather than through first-hand experience, such as through watching or reading.

    People experience vicarious pleasures through watching television.

  3. 3

    On behalf of others.

    The concept of vicarious atonement, that one person can atone for the sins of another, is found in many religions.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Vicarious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpar procuration (delegated), indirect (experienced or gained by the loss or to the…)
Germanstellvertretend, anstelle von, übertragen, nachempfunden, in Vertretung (delegated), indirekt (experienced or gained by the loss or to the…)
Spanishvicario, vicarial, vicariante (experienced or gained by the loss or to the…)
Portuguesevicário (on behalf of others)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does vicarious come from?

From Latin vicārius (“vicarious, substituted”) + English -ous. First attested in the 17th century. Doublet of vicar.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after vicarious