Other forms: replaced, replacing, replaces
To replace something is to put a new one where the old one was. A dead bulb, a cracked screen, the milk you finished last night: you replace it and life carries on as before.
Two shapes matter. You replace X, and you replace X WITH Y, as when they replaced the wooden steps with concrete ones; in the passive you will also meet replaced BY. People get replaced too, so a manager replaces a colleague who has left, and the new arrival is the replacement. A third use catches learners out because it is formal and means only put back where it came from, as on the museum sign asking you to replace the book on the shelf. And a thing you could never find again is irreplaceable.
1verbreplaceTo put a new or different thing in the place of one that is old, broken or gone.
“We had to replace the boiler after fifteen years.”
2verbsucceedTo take the place of someone or something.
“She replaced him as head of the department in March.”
3verbformalTo put something back where it was (formal).
“Please replace the tools in the box when you have finished.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
From re- + place.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA