instead of
in place of someone or something else. You use this when you choose one thing and not another.
“I will drink tea instead of coffee today.”
“He wears a blue shirt instead of a white one for the party.”
“She decided to walk to work instead of taking the bus because the weather was so beautiful.”
“We should use fresh vegetables from the market instead of buying frozen ones if we want the soup to taste better.”
“The committee chose to invest in renewable energy sources instead of continuing their reliance on outdated and environmentally harmful fossil fuels.”
From the Middle English *in stede of* or *in stude of*, which functioned as a literal construction meaning in the place of. The form is equivalent to the modern *in* + *stead* + *of*, a relationship preserved in the phrase *in one's stead*.
The term shares its lineage with several Germanic cognates, appearing as *insteede* or *ansteede* in Saterland Frisian and *ynstee* in West Frisian. It is further related to the Dutch *instede*, the German *anstatt*, and the Danish *i stedet*.
Last updated April 22, 2026