replace Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb substitute a person or thing for (another that is broken or inefficient or lost or no longer working or yielding what is expected)
    • He replaced the old razor blade
    • We need to replace the secretary that left a month ago
    • the insurance will replace the lost income
    • This antique vase can never be replaced
  2. verb take the place or move into the position of
    supercede; supplant; supersede; supervene upon.
    • Smith replaced Miller as CEO after Miller left
    • the computer has supplanted the slide rule
    • Mary replaced Susan as the team's captain and the highest-ranked player in the school
  3. verb put something back where it belongs
    put back.
    • replace the book on the shelf after you have finished reading it
    • please put the clean dishes back in the cabinet when you have washed them
  4. verb put in the place of another; switch seemingly equivalent items
    interchange; exchange; substitute.
    • the con artist replaced the original with a fake Rembrandt
    • substitute regular milk with fat-free milk
    • synonyms can be interchanged without a changing the context's meaning

WordNet


Re*place" transitive verb
Etymology
Pref. re- + place: cf. F. replacer.
Definitions
  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. ✍ 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.

Webster 1913