What does vicary mean?
Vicary is a rare noun for a person who acts in place of another. It can denote a deputy, stand-in, or representative who carries out another person's duties and accepts the associated role or responsibility. In an older and now largely archaic sense, it also refers to vicarious responsibility itself: accountability for another person's actions or wrongdoing. The word has a formal, historical tone and survives mainly in literary writing, legal discussion, and descriptions of earlier language. Modern speakers usually reach for substitute, deputy, representative, or proxy when describing a stand-in, while vicarious is the familiar adjective in expressions involving responsibility or experience on someone else's behalf. Vicary is nevertheless worth knowing because it identifies the person behind the modern adjective and vividly conveys the idea of literally taking another's place.
nounA person who acts in place of another, especially a substitute who assumes another person's duties or responsibility. The word can also refer, archaically, to responsibility or accountability performed in someone else's stead.
- A person who acts in place of another, especially a substitute who assumes another person's duties or responsibility.
- Responsibility or accountability performed in someone else's stead, especially for another person's wrongdoing.
"The regent governed as vicary for the young sovereign."
"The regent governed as vicary for the young sovereign."
"The senior manager was made a vicary, accountable for decisions made in the director's absence."
The standard plural of this rare noun.
"The court appointed two vicaries to act during the regent's absence."
A vicary was literally someone who stood in your place—and could sometimes inherit your blame.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of vicary
Vicary entered Middle English from Anglo-French and ultimately from Latin vicarius, meaning a substitute or deputy. The Latin word is associated with vicis, referring to a change or turn, and passed into several English words associated with substitution or acting in place of another. Its modern rarity contrasts with the continued usefulness of vicarious.
How vicary is actually used
The word is rare and chiefly archaic or literary. In modern usage, the adjective vicarious and the noun vicariousness are much more common, especially in discussions of responsibility, liability, and shared experience.
Easily confused with vicary
A vicary is a noun naming a substitute or stand-in, whereas vicarious is an adjective describing work, responsibility, or an experience performed on behalf of another.
A vicary is someone who takes another person's place, while a vicar is a member of the clergy who is legally responsible for a parish or church.