Open main menu



From Middle English substituten, from Latin substitutus, past participle of substituō.


  • IPA(key): /ˈsʌbstɪtut/, /ˈsʌbstɪtjut/
  • (file)



    I had no shallots so I substituted onion.
  2. (transitive) In the phrase "substitute X for Y", to use X in place of Y. With increasing frequency used in the semantically opposite sense (see the OED's notes).
    I had to substitute new parts for the old ones.
  3. (transitive) In the phrase "substitute X with/by Y", to use Y in place of X; to replace X with Y
    I had to substitute old parts with the new ones. (This usage was formerly proscribed.)
  4. (transitive, sports) To remove (a player) from the field of play and bring on another in his place.
    He was playing poorly and was substituted after twenty minutes
      Mario Balotelli replaced Tevez but his contribution was so negligible that he suffered the indignity of being substituted himself as time ran out, a development that encapsulated a wretched 90 minutes for City and boss Roberto Mancini.
  5. (intransitive) To serve as a replacement (for someone or something)
    • 1987, James Tobin, Essays in Economics, Vol. 2, p. 75
      Accumulation of wealth by this route may substitute for personal saving.

Usage notesEdit

The verb "to substitute" can be used transitively in two opposite ways. "To substitute X" may mean either "use X in place of something else" (as in definitions 1 and 2), or "use something else in place of X" (as in definitions 3 and 4). The latter use is more recent, but it is widespread and now generally accepted (see the COED's note on the matter). However, if the indirect object (the "something else") is omitted, the preposition is also omitted, and the reader or hearer cannot tell which sense is meant:

  • "Substitute butter for olive oil" = Use butter instead of olive oil
  • "Substitute butter with olive oil" = Use olive oil instead of butter
  • "Substitute butter" = ???




substitute (plural substitutes)

    • De Quincey
      Ladies [in Shakespeare's age] [] wore masks as the sole substitute known to our ancestors for the modern parasol.
    • 2011 November 3, David Ornstein, “Macc Tel-Aviv 1 - 2 Stoke”, in BBC Sport[2]:
      Dean Whitehead opened the scoring shortly after the break with a low finish and substitute Peter Crouch sealed the win with a tap-in.
  3. (historical) One who enlists for military service in the place of a conscript.






  1. vocative masculine singular of substitūtus