substitute

American  

[suhb-sti-toot, -tyoot] / ˈsʌb stɪˌtut, -ˌtjut /

noun

substitutes plural

1. a person or thing acting or serving in place of another.

   Synonyms:

   equivalent, replacement, alternative

2. (formerly) a person who, for payment, served in an army or navy in the place of a conscript.

3. Grammar. a word that functions as a replacement for any member of a class of words or constructions, as do in He doesn't know but I do.

---

verb (used with object)

substitutes, present (3rd person singular) substituted, past participle, past substituting present participle

1. to put (a person or thing) in the place of another.

2. to take the place of; replace.

3. Chemistry. to replace (one or more elements or groups in a compound) by other elements or groups.

verb (used without object)

substitutes, present (3rd person singular) substituted, past participle, past substituting present participle

1. to act as a substitute.

adjective

1. of or relating to a substitute or substitutes.

2. composed of substitutes.

substitute British  

/ ˈsʌbstɪˌtjuːt /

verb

1. (often foll by for) to serve or cause to serve in place of another person or thing

2. chem to replace (an atom or group in a molecule) with (another atom or group)

3. logic maths to replace (one expression) by (another) in the context of a third, as replacing x + y for x in 3 x = k gives 3 x + 3 y = k

---

noun

1. 1. a person or thing that serves in place of another, such as a player in a game who takes the place of an injured colleague

   2. Often shortened to: sub.  ( as modifier )

      a substitute goalkeeper

2. grammar another name for pro-form

3. another name for supply teacher

4. nautical another word for repeater

5. (formerly) a person paid to replace another due for military service

Usage

What does substitute mean? A substitute is someone or something that takes the place of another person or thing. As a verb, to substitute means to make such a switch. Substitute is used in a variety of contexts, but it is perhaps most commonly associated with substitute teachers and players in team sports who replace a player in the game. In both cases, the word is often shortened as sub. Example: Mr. Jones was sick today so we had a substitute.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• intersubstitutability
  noun
• intersubstitution
  noun
• nonsubstitution
  noun
• presubstitution
  noun
• substitutability
  noun
• substituter
  noun
• substitution
  noun
• presubstitute
  verb (used with object)
• intersubstitutable
  adjective
• nonsubstituted
  adjective
• nonsubstitutional
  adjective
• nonsubstitutionary
  adjective
• prosubstitution
  adjective
• substitutable
  adjective
• substitutional
  adjective
• substitutionary
  adjective
• unsubstituted
  adjective
• nonsubstitutionally
  adverb
• substitutingly
  adverb
• substitutionally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• substitutes
  plural

Participles

• substituting
  present
• substituted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• substitute
  simple
• substitutes
  simple
• have substituted
  perfect
• has substituted
  perfect
• am substituting
  progressive
• are substituting
  progressive
• is substituting
  progressive
• have been substituting
  perfect progressive
• has been substituting
  perfect progressive

Past

• substituted
  simple
• had substituted
  perfect
• was substituting
  progressive
• were substituting
  progressive
• had been substituting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will substitute
  simple
• will have substituted
  perfect
• will be substituting
  progressive
• will have been substituting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of substitute

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin substitūtus “replaced,” past participle of substituere “to put in place of,” from sub- sub- + -stituere, combining form of statuere “to set up, erect” ( see substituent)

Explanation

Something or someone that takes the place of another is said to be a substitute. You may be sent into a game as a substitute for an injured player, or you might substitute chocolate chips for blueberries in a pancake recipe. Substitute can be used as an adjective to describe something or someone that takes the place of another. Teenagers are notoriously hard on substitute teachers, sometimes giving them fake names or wrong information about classroom work. Substitute can also be used as a verb. So if you are asked to substitute for a teacher, you probably shouldn't believe everything the students tell you!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

substitute substitutes substituted substituting

But Suez is an outlet, not a full substitute.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

“We just fundamentally understand they’ll never be a substitute product,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 25, 2026

They said it has improved significantly over previous generations and can now effectively substitute for Nvidia chips on certain tasks—particularly inference, where trained models respond to user queries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Williams, who got the assist, was also a late-game substitute.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026

The girls also worked as substitute labor so that female factory workers could take a four-week vacation.

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

The study did not include every artificial sweetener currently used in food and beverages, so the findings cannot be applied to all sugar substitutes.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026

Several widely used sugar substitutes may be associated with faster declines in memory and thinking skills over time, according to research published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026

Plus, Saka and/or Madueke may perhaps be more effective coming on as substitutes.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

When he substitutes a pitcher or a hitter and it works out, Dave is a hero, and when it doesn’t work out, Dave is a bum.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2026

Although Jack and Ethel had just met Bobby that summer, they were fast becoming parental substitutes for him.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Rodri, who had been substituted in extra-time, ran over from the dugout to join his team-mates.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

This was the first time he had failed to score at the World Cup and, by the time he was substituted in extra-time, he had failed to register a single shot on target.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

They celebrated wildly, while Cristiano Ronaldo, who had earlier scored his first ever World Cup knockout goal for his country before being substituted, looked crestfallen on the bench.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino substituted Pulisic at halftime after Balogun scored two goals and Reyna added a fourth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026

He substituted feta cheese for the yak cheese in the recipe because yak cheese is very hard to come by, even in Manhattan.

From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson

“Nostalgia is basically substituting what you feel now for what actually happened then, right? I have no nostalgia for childhood summers because nothing happened.”

From Salon ● Jun. 24, 2026

“Those kinds of trips are where people are substituting buses for personal or perhaps rental cars,” Savikas said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

Egypt manager Hossam Hassan even had to speak out before the match to deny any fall out with Salah - after substituting him during the draw with Belgium.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026

Back in 2005, when Roberts rhapsodized about Indiana farmland and an endless horizon punctuated only by silos and barns, he was substituting a humble, real-life Midwest upbringing for his own.

From Slate ● May 7, 2026

And then Sierra complains about the frosting, and then they all sing, substituting insults for her name.

From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti

Related Words

• backup
• replacement
• stand-in
• surrogate