What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Virtual vs Vicarious - What's the difference?

virtual | vicarious |

As adjectives the difference between virtual and vicarious

is that virtual is in effect or essence, if not in fact or reality; imitated, simulated while vicarious is experienced or gained by the loss or to the consequence of another, such as through watching or reading.

As a noun virtual

is in C++, a virtual member function of a class.

virtual

English

(wikipedia virtual)

Alternative forms

* vertual (obsolete) * vertuall (qualifier) * virtuall (obsolete)

Adjective

(-)
  • In effect or essence, if not in fact or reality; imitated, simulated.
    • In fact a defeat on the battlefield, Tet was a virtual victory for the North, owing to its effect on public opinion.
    Virtual addressing allows applications to believe that there is much more physical memory than actually exists.
  • * Fleming
    • A thing has a virtual existence when it has all the conditions necessary to its actual existence.
  • * De Quincey
    • to mask by slight differences in the manners a virtual identity in the substance
  • Having the power of acting or of invisible efficacy without the agency of the material or measurable part; potential.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • Heat and cold have a virtual transition, without communication of substance.
  • * Milton
    • Every kind that lives, / Fomented by his virtual power, and warmed.
  • Nearly, almost. (A relatively recent corruption of meaning, attributed to misuse in advertising and media. )
    • The angry peasants were a virtual army as they attacked the castle.
  • * 2012 , Chelsea 6-0 Wolves [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19632463]
    • The Chelsea captain was a virtual spectator as he was treated to his side's biggest win for almost two years as Stamford Bridge serenaded him with chants of "there's only one England captain," some 48 hours after he announced his retirement from international football.
  • Simulated in a computer or online.
    • The virtual world of his computer game allowed character interaction.
  • Operating by computer or in cyberspace; not physically present.
    • a virtual''' assistant; a '''virtual personal trainer
  • (computing, object-oriented programming, of a class member) Capable of being overridden with a different implementation in a subclass.
  • (physics) Pertaining to particles in temporary existence due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.

    • Synonyms

    * de facto

    Antonyms

    * de jure * legal * real

    Derived terms

    * virtual reality * virtually

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (computing) In C++, a virtual member function of a class.
    • ----

    vicarious

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Experienced or gained by the loss or to the consequence of another, such as through watching or reading.
    • People experience vicarious pleasures through watching television.
  • Done on behalf of others
    • The concept of vicarious atonement, that one person can atone for the sins of another, is found in many religions.

    Quotations

    {{timeline, 1800s=1886, 1900s=1900 1920}} * 1886 — ch 10 *: The pleasures which I made haste to seek in my disguise were, as I have said, undignified; I would scarce use a harder term. But in the hands of Edward Hyde, they soon began to turn toward the monstrous. When I would come back from these excursions, I was often plunged into a kind of wonder at my vicarious depravity. * 1900 — ch 26 *: As time went on, the cruel custom was so far mitigated that a ram was accepted as a vicarious sacrifice in room of the royal victim. * 1920 — ch III *: In these, however, he had not much time to indulge, for a footman, still decked in the trappings of vicarious grief, opened the door with the most startling promptitude, and he was ushered upstairs into a small but richly furnished room.

    Derived terms

    * vicarious atonement * vicarious learning * vicarious liability * vicarious reinforcement

    Related terms

    * vicar * vicariously