replace - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From re- + place.

replace (third-person singular simple present replaces, present participle replacing, simple past and past participle replaced)

  1. (transitive) To restore to a former place, position, condition, etc.; to put back.
    When you've finished using the telephone, please replace the handset.
    • 2020 August 26, “Network News: Mid-September before line reopens, says Network Rail”, in Rail, page 10:
      Network Rail doesn't expect the line through Carmont to open for around a month, as it faces the mammoth task of recovering the two power cars and four coaches from ScotRail's wrecked train, repairing bridge 325, stabilising earthworks around the landslip, and replacing the track.
  2. (transitive) To refund; to repay; to pay back.
    You can take what you need from the petty cash, but you must replace it tomorrow morning.
    • 1927, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados Mysteries:
      'Of course I should like to replace the damage,' said the delinquent.
  3. (transitive) To supply or substitute an equivalent with.
    I replaced my car with a newer model.
    The batteries were dead so I replaced them.
    • 2012 September 20, Andrew Brown, “Archbishop of Canterbury succession race begins in earnest”, in The Guardian (online)‎[1]:
      Next Wednesday, four women and 15 men on the Crown Nominations Commission will gather for two days of prayer and horsetrading to replace Rowan Williams as archbishop of Canterbury.
  4. (transitive) To take over the position or role from.
    • 2019 April 10, qntm, “CASE HATE RED”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, page 137:
      Perplexed, Wheeler continues to play for a moment or two, keeping to his own internal time. But after another moment it becomes clear that something is wrong, something which everybody can see but him. He steals a glance up from his instrument, and finds that Luján is staring at him. In fact, every musician in the orchestra is staring at him, all of them wearing the same expression of stony, barely-contained ang—
      They've been replaced.
  5. (transitive) To take the place of; to be used instead of.
    This security pass replaces the one you were given earlier.
    • 1845, William Whewell, The Elements of Morality: Including Polity:
      This duty of right intention does not replace or supersede the duty of consideration.
    • 1974, Gloria Scott, “Just as Long as We're Together”:
      So my love, I dare say to you / Let's hold on fast to a love that's really true / The thought of losing you could never be erased / The love that I once knew could never be replaced
  6. (transitive) To demolish (a building) and build an updated form of that building in its place.
  7. (transitive, rare) To place again.
    • 2022 February 2, Adam Gardner, “Why Do Powerlifters Wear Singlets? (5 Reasons Explained)”, in Avi Silberberg, editor, Powerlifting Technique‎[2]:
      During the bench press, it is prohibited in any federation to lift your butt from contact with the bench after you have started a bona fide attempt to perform the lift. Once you unrack the bar and begin descending it to your chest, your butt must stay in contact with the bench until you replace the bar on the rack.
  8. (transitive, rare) To put in a new or different place.

to restore or return to a previous location

to refund; to repay; to pay back

to supply or substitute an equivalent for — see also substitute

“replace”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

replace

  1. inflection of replacer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative