replacement
Americannoun
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replacements
plural
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the act of replacing.
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a person or thing that replaces another.
summer replacements for vacationing staff; a replacement for a broken dish.
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Military. a sailor, soldier, or airman assigned to fill a vacancy in a military unit.
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Also called metasomatism. Geology. the process of practically simultaneous removal and deposition by which a new mineral grows in the body of an old one.
noun
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the act or process of replacing
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a person or thing that replaces another
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geology the growth of a mineral within another of different chemical composition by gradual simultaneous deposition and removal
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Also called: petrification. a process of fossilization by gradual substitution of mineral matter for the original organic matter
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of replacement
Explanation
A replacement is the thing that fills in for something that's missing, or the act of substituting for the missing thing. The replacement for your absent teacher is an annoying substitute. Sigh. When kids lose their baby teeth, replacements soon grow in their places. And when kids need to have their teeth cleaned but their dentist is on vacation, her replacement will be in charge of taking x-rays and checking for cavities. Replacement comes from the verb replace, which adds the "back" prefix re- to place, "to put somewhere."
Vocabulary lists containing replacement
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:
This causes chaos for commuters who are forced to get on replacement buses.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
But the arithmetic was suddenly visible anyway: one broken appliance repaired, one replacement avoided, however many dollars still in somebody’s pocket.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
The discord meant the program spent much of the summer hiring replacement correspondents, including Ross Douthat, a conservative New York Times opinion writer with no experience as a TV journalist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
Kevin Reddington, Clancy's lawyer, has repeatedly demanded the replacement of the holdout juror with one of several alternate jurors but Sullivan declined to do so.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
Another resulted in a replacement, throughout almost the whole of tropical Southeast Asia, of indigenous hunter-gatherers by farmers of ultimately South Chinese origin.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Qatar gave the luxury Boeing 747 jet to the United States in 2025, after Trump complained about the ageing current presidential planes and delays to the delivery of their planned replacements.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
It’s important to know the best days for the Eagles are ahead as their young replacements receive early-season experience in anticipation of becoming much better later in the season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
When a seller doesn’t deliver, StubHub says it will try to find replacement seats, but for high-profile events, last-minute replacements rarely exist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
But the refrigeration rule did not impose any costs on regulated entities until future replacements of refrigeration equipment may be needed.
From Slate ● Aug. 2, 2026
Not having any replacements, he would have to use it sparingly.
From "Gregor the Overlander" by Suzanne Collins
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.
