Meaning & Definition of Replace in English

1. 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. 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 team's captain and the highest-ranked player in the school"

3. 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"

4. 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 context's meaning"