replace definition | Dictionary.com

re⋅place

[ri-pleys]

–verb (used with object), -placed, -plac⋅ing.

1.	to assume the former role, position, or function of; substitute for (a person or thing): Electricity has replaced gas in lighting.

2.	to provide a substitute or equivalent in the place of: to replace a broken dish.

3.	to restore; return; make good: to replace a sum of money borrowed.

4.	to restore to a former or the proper place: to replace the vase on the table.

Origin:
1585–95; re- + place

Related forms:

re⋅place⋅a⋅ble, adjective

re⋅place⋅a⋅bil⋅i⋅ty, noun

re⋅plac⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
1. succeed. Replace, supersede, supplant refer to putting one thing or person in place of another. To replace is to take the place of, to succeed: Ms. Jones will replace Mr. Smith as president. Supersede implies that that which is replacing another is an improvement: The typewriter has superseded the pen. Supplant implies that that which takes the other's place has ousted the former holder and usurped the position or function, esp. by art or fraud: to supplant a former favorite. 3. refund, repay.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To replace

re·place (rĭ-plās')

tr.v. re·placed, re·plac·ing, re·plac·es

To put back into a former position or place.
To take or fill the place of.
To be or provide a substitute for.
To pay back or return; refund.

re·place'a·ble adj., re·plac'er n.

Synonyms: These verbs mean to turn someone or something out and place another in his, her, or its stead. To replace is to be or to furnish an equivalent or substitute, especially for one that has been lost, depleted, worn out, or discharged: "A conspiracy was carefully engineered to replace the Directory by three Consuls" (H.G. Wells).
Supplant often suggests the use of intrigue or underhanded tactics to take another's place: "The rivaling poor Jones, and supplanting him in her affections, added another spur to his pursuit" (Henry Fielding).
To supersede is to replace one person or thing by another held to be more valuable or useful, or less antiquated: "In our island the Latin appears never to have superseded the old Gaelic speech" (Thomas Macaulay).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Replace

Re*place"\ (r?-pl?s"), v. t. [Pref. re- + place: cf. F. replacer.]

1. To place again; to restore to a former place, position, condition, or the like.

The earl . . . was replaced in his government. --Bacon.

2. To refund; to repay; to restore; as, to replace a sum of money borrowed.

3. To supply or substitute an equivalent for; as, to replace a lost document.

With Israel, religion replaced morality. --M. Arnold.

4. To take the place of; to supply the want of; to fulfull the end or office of.

This duty of right intention does not replace or supersede the duty of consideration. --Whewell.

5. To put in a new or different place.

Note: The propriety of the use of replace instead of displace, supersede, take the place of, as in the third and fourth definitions, is often disputed on account of etymological discrepancy; but the use has been sanctioned by the practice of careful writers.

Replaced crystal (Crystallog.), a crystal having one or more planes in the place of its edges or angles.

Language Translation for : replace

Spanish: sustituir,

German: ersetzen,

Japanese: 取り換える

More Translations »

replace

1595, "to restore to a previous place," from re- "back, again" + place (v.). Meaning "to take the place of" is recorded from 1733. Replacement "act or fact of being replaced" is from 1790; meaning "something that replaces another" is attested from 1894.

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