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'

take the place or move into the position of; Smith replaced Miller as CEO after Miller left; the computer has supplanted the slide rule; Mary replaced Susan as the teams captain and the highest-ranked player in the school

[ Syn: supplant , supersede , supervene upon , supercede ]

put something back where it belongs; 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

[ Syn: put back ]

put in the place of another; switch seemingly equivalent items; 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 contexts meaning

[ Syn: substitute , interchange , exchange ]