Substitute

//ˈsʌb.stɪ.tʃuːt// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A replacement or stand-in for something that achieves a similar result or purpose.

    "Ladies [in William Shakespeare's age], again, universally wore masks as the sole substitute known to our ancestors for the modern parasol; a fact, perhaps, not generally known."

  2. 2
    a person or thing that takes or can take the place of another wordnet
  3. 3
    A substitute teacher.
  4. 4
    someone who takes the place of another (as when things get dangerous or difficult) wordnet
  5. 5
    A player who is available to replace another if the need arises, and who may or may not actually do so.

    "Dean Whitehead opened the scoring shortly after the break with a low finish and substitute Peter Crouch sealed the win with a tap-in."

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    an athlete who plays only when a starter on the team is replaced wordnet
  2. 7
    One who enlists for military service in the place of a conscript. historical
  3. 8
    Abbreviation of substitute good. abbreviation, alt-of
Verb
  1. 1
    To use in place of something else, with the same function. transitive

    "I had no shallots so I substituted onion."

  2. 2
    put in the place of another; switch seemingly equivalent items wordnet
  3. 3
    To use X in place of Y. transitive

    "I had to substitute new parts for the old ones."

  4. 4
    be a substitute wordnet
  5. 5
    To use Y in place of X; to replace X with Y. transitive

    "I had to substitute old parts with the new ones."

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    act as a substitute wordnet
  2. 7
    To remove (a player) from the field of play and bring on another in his place. transitive

    "He was playing poorly and was substituted after twenty minutes"

  3. 8
    To serve as a replacement (for someone or something). intransitive

    "Accumulation of wealth by this route may substitute for personal saving."

Adjective
  1. 1
    artificial and inferior wordnet
  2. 2
    serving or used in place of another wordnet
  3. 3
    capable of substituting in any of several positions on a team wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
alternativeexchangeexchangefill-inreplacementsecondary

Example

More examples

"It's a word I'd like to find a substitute for."

Etymology

From Middle English substituten, from Latin substitutus, past participle of substituō, from sub- (“under; beneath”) + statuō (“to put up; establish”).

Related phrases

milk substitutesalt substituteservice as a software substitutesheriff-substitutesubstitute teachersugar substituteinstead ofnew playerplace ofreplacement teacherschool subsick day

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.