displace
Americanverb (used with object)
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to compel (a person or persons) to leave home, country, etc.
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to move or put out of the usual or proper place.
- Synonyms:
- relocate
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to take the place of; replace; supplant.
Fiction displaces fact.
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to remove from a position, office, or dignity.
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Obsolete. to rid oneself of.
verb
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to move from the usual or correct location
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to remove from office or employment
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to occupy the place of; replace; supplant
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to force (someone) to leave home or country, as during a war
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chem to replace (an atom or group in a chemical compound) by another atom or group
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physics to cause a displacement of (a quantity of liquid, usually water of a specified type and density)
Synonym Usage
Displace, misplace mean to put something in a different place from where it should be. To displace often means to shift something solid and comparatively immovable, more or less permanently from its place: The flood displaced houses from their foundations. To misplace is to put an object in a wrong place so that it is difficult to find: Papers belonging in the safe were misplaced and temporarily lost.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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displacesimple
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displacessimple
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have displacedperfect
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has displacedperfect
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am displacingprogressive
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are displacingprogressive
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is displacingprogressive
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have been displacingperfect progressive
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has been displacingperfect progressive
Past
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displacedsimple
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had displacedperfect
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was displacingprogressive
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were displacingprogressive
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had been displacingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of displace
1545–55; dis- 1 + place, perhaps modeled on Middle French desplacer
Explanation
When you displace something, you move it to a new position — either in a concrete sense, like moving a chair, or in an abstract sense, like firing someone from a job. Displace means to forcefully move or remove something — or someone — but it can also mean “to take the place of,” again, with some force. If your brother is sitting in your seat, you might say, “Get out of my chair! Don’t make me have to displace you!” Similarly, when a new employee is hired at work, she might displace the person who had the job before.
Vocabulary lists containing displace
100 SAT Words Beginning with "D"
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100 Great Words from "Fahrenheit 451" -- Part I Vocabulary
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"Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began" by Art Spiegelman
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
None of these reforms would displace Slaughter’s core holding.
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026
In the US, unions have warned robotaxis could displace taxi, delivery and freight drivers.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
Some creatives are concerned that the technology could displace jobs; others worry that their likenesses are being used to train AI models without their permission or compensation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
Silent prayer vigils, cautiously worded protest banners and T-shirts pleading for neighbourhoods to be spared -- Hanoi residents are showing rare public opposition to a massive redevelopment scheme that could displace hundreds of thousands.
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
We do not yet have a science strong enough to displace the myth.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
According to the researchers, Alzheimer's may begin when a-beta displaces tau from microtubules.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026
For eight hours, the 65-year-old displaces tonnes of steel that will become ship hulls and wind turbine components.
From Barron's ● Mar. 7, 2026
Buyers should ask themselves if they really need Subaru’s heroic AWD hardware, the cost of which displaces value in other parts of the car.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
He warns against weakening workers' bargaining power, especially as technology displaces jobs and unemployment remains high.
From BBC ● Nov. 27, 2025
It is perfectly correct to claim that in a boundless fluid a floating body displaces its own weight in water.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Astronomers may soon be able to answer that question by finding more displaced black holes.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
Meanwhile, at a sports hall in Las Rozas de Madrid just outside the capital, the displaced sprawled on camp beds, held their heads in their hands and comforted pets as they awaited news.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Huge forest fires in south-west France and central Spain have displaced more than 220,000 people, with the French military drafted in to help and the Spanish government declaring a national emergency.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
One person is dead and 60 others have been displaced following a fire at a Baldwin Park townhouse community, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
On the other hand, every displaced person milling about on the streets means another pair of eyes looking for the five rebels on the loose.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
Fourth of July fireworks sparked dangerous explosions and raging fires across Southern California, leaving several injured and displacing families.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
“There are concerns about AI displacing some of their own business, and the capital spending is a big issue.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
But displacing truck drivers requires replacing an enormous physical capital stock: the trucks themselves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
The earthquake, which struck on Monday morning, triggered tsunami warnings in Indonesia, south of Mindanao and across Japan's Pacific coast, displacing tens of thousands of people.
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026
The release of the North American Plate during the quake caused its outer edge to leap upward, displacing the water above it.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
