supplant
Americanverb
Synonym Usage
See replace.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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supplantsimple
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supplantssimple
-
have supplantedperfect
-
has supplantedperfect
-
am supplantingprogressive
-
are supplantingprogressive
-
is supplantingprogressive
-
have been supplantingperfect progressive
-
has been supplantingperfect progressive
Past
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supplantedsimple
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had supplantedperfect
-
was supplantingprogressive
-
were supplantingprogressive
-
had been supplantingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of supplant
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English supplanten, from Latin supplantāre “to trip up, overthrow”; see sup-, plant
Explanation
Kate was out sick for a whole month, and when she came back to school, Jessie had supplanted her as the funny girl at the lunch table. Supplant means "to take the place of." Being supplanted is something that often happens to ideas or ways of thinking. Encouraging children's freedom has supplanted old ideas about children being better seen than heard. After a shocking upset at Wimbledon, a new tennis player has supplanted the reigning champion.
Vocabulary lists containing supplant
The Tempest
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"Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell
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This Week in Words: January 5 - 11, 2019
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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.
The dream scenario for SpaceX and Amazon is that they could eventually supplant terrestrial carriers as the main providers of wireless networks by promising seamless global coverage.
From Barron's • Jun. 15, 2026
City leaders hope F&M Bank Amphitheater of Long Beach, located next to the famed Queen Mary, will supplant declining revenues from oil extraction and lead to an uptick in tourism.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2026
The message arrived at a moment of extreme anxiety in America corporations over how many jobs could be lost to AI’s powers to speed up and supplant much of white-collar work.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026
These new resources wouldn’t be used to supplant existing funding but rather to double funding for the NSF, NIH, Darpa and the Energy Department’s national laboratories.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026
This was the Rockefeller Foundation, which soon would supplant every other source as Ernest Lawrence’s preeminent philanthropic sponsor.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
