To usurp the place of, especially through intrigue or underhanded tactics.
To displace and substitute for (another): The word processor has largely supplanted electric typewriters. See Synonyms at replace.
[Middle English supplanten, from Old French supplanter, from Latin supplantāre, to trip up : sub-, sub- + planta, sole of the foot; see plat- in Indo-European roots.]
c.1300, "to trip up, overthrow, defeat, dispossess," from O.Fr. supplanter "to trip up, overthrow," from L. supplantare "trip up, overthrow," from sub "under" + planta "sole of the foot" (see plant (n.)). Meaning "replace one thing with another" first recorded 1671. Interesting sense evolution parallel in Heb. akabh "he beguiled," from akebh "heel."