Replaces

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To act as a substitute for another person or object by removing the original and inserting a different one in its place
2. Takes the position or role previously held by another person or item
3. Acts in the stead of another by removing the first and putting in an alternative

Etymology: "Replaces" is the third-person singular present form of "replace", so the history belongs to "replace". That verb is a compound: "re-" added to "place". The "re-" prefix comes from Latin, where it meant "back" or "again", and "place" is the familiar English word for a position or location. The verb reached English through Old French, which had its own form "replacer", and the English word is a re- plus place combination formed on that model. The sense is literal before it is figurative: to place something back where it was, or to put something in the position once held by another thing. The idea of one thing taking the spot of another is what carries into the modern meaning of substitution.

Synonyms: substitutes, supersedes, takes over, fills in, changes

Antonyms: keeps, maintains, retains, holds, preserves