# substitution

/ˌsəbstɪˈtuʃən/ (US) · /sˌʌbstɪtjˈuːʃən/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/substitution
Updated: 2026-08-08

## Senses

### 1. the act of replacing

noun · CEFR B2

the act of putting one person or thing in the place of another.

For teachers: the act of replacing one person or thing with another, or the state of being substituted.

- The coach made a quick substitution in the second half to improve the team's defense.
- The substitution of honey for refined sugar in the recipe altered the texture of the cake more than the baker had anticipated.

### 2. a replacement person or thing

noun · CEFR B2

a person or thing that takes the place of someone or something else.

For teachers: a person or thing that acts as a replacement for another.

- If you don't have butter, margarine is a common substitution for baking.
- The manager viewed the new software not just as an upgrade, but as a necessary substitution for the aging legacy system.

### 3. chemical reaction

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

when one atom or group in a chemical is replaced by a different one.

For teachers: the replacement of an atom or a functional group in a chemical compound with another atom or group.

- The teacher explained how a substitution reaction changes the molecule's structure.
- Nucleophilic substitution is a fundamental class of reactions in organic chemistry where an electron-rich species replaces a leaving group on a carbon atom.

### 4. linguistic borrowing

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical · Academic

creating a new word in your own language to match a word from a foreign language.

For teachers: the expansion of a language's lexicon by using native elements to create a term corresponding to a foreign concept.

- The word 'skyscraper' is often translated into other languages through direct substitution of its parts.
- Linguistic substitution allows a culture to adopt foreign concepts while maintaining the morphological integrity of the native tongue.

## Examples

- The chef made a substitution because he ran out of cream.
- The coach made a late substitution to bring on a fresh defender for the final five minutes.
- In historical linguistics, sound substitution occurs when speakers replace a foreign phoneme with the closest equivalent from their native inventory to ease pronunciation.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.