displace

American  

[dis-pleys] / dɪsˈpleɪs /

verb (used with object)

displaced, displacing

1. to compel (a person or persons) to leave home, country, etc.

2. to move or put out of the usual or proper place.

   Synonyms:

   relocate

3. to take the place of; replace; supplant.

   Fiction displaces fact.

4. to remove from a position, office, or dignity.

   Synonyms:

   dismiss, oust, depose

5. Obsolete. to rid oneself of.

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displace British  

/ dɪsˈpleɪs /

verb

1. to move from the usual or correct location

2. to remove from office or employment

3. to occupy the place of; replace; supplant

4. to force (someone) to leave home or country, as during a war

5. chem to replace (an atom or group in a chemical compound) by another atom or group

6. physics to cause a displacement of (a quantity of liquid, usually water of a specified type and density)

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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

• displaceable
  adjective
• displacer
  noun
• predisplace
  verb (used with object)
• undisplaceable
  adjective

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.

Example Sentences

A cheaper robot worker would not solve all of those problems, but it fits neatly into Beijing’s broader answer: to make factories more automated, more productive and harder to displace.

From MarketWatch • May 27, 2026

Moments of censorship or political pressure rarely eliminate satire; while they may displace it, forcing it into new platforms, formats and voices, the critical perspectives of satire remain.

From Salon • May 19, 2026

The overall effect of the proposal will be to displace veterans, not add housing, said a congressional staffer who is familiar with the issue but not authorized to speak publicly.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

He uses “value capture,” for example, to describe situations where we allow a scoring system to displace our true purposes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026

It was incompatible with the teaching of Archimedes, who was available in Latin from the twelfth century, and argued that objects float only if they are lighter than the water they displace.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

• disturb
• evict
• expel
• force out
• lose
• uproot