great replacement

proper noun

A white nationalist conspiracy theory claiming the gradual demographic and cultural replacement of white European populations, by non-European peoples, who are deliberately assisted by elites.

Meanings

great replacement1

proper nounthe great replacement
  1. Alternative letter-case form of Great Replacement.

Great Replacement2

proper nounthe Great Replacement

alternative great replacement

  1. A white nationalist conspiracy theory claiming the gradual demographic and cultural replacement of white European populations, by non-European peoples, who are deliberately assisted by elites.

    […] instead of depicting this development as evidence for the Great Replacement […]

    2021, Tom Brass, Marxism missing, missing Marxism […] , Leiden: BRILL, →ISBN, page 241
    3 more examples

    Echoing the man accused of fatally shooting dozens of people at two mosques in New Zealand in March, the El Paso gunman’s manifesto mentioned the “great replacement,” a conspiracy theory that warns of white genocide.

    2019 August 6, Lauretta Charlton, “What Is the Great Replacement?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 16 Jul 2020

    The opponents of the ‘Great Replacement’ have to be ‘united to form a common front on a pan-European level’, since the battle stands between ‘replacists’ and ‘non-replacists’ only (43–44).

    2021, Andreas Önnerfors, André Krouwel, editors, Europe: Continent of Conspiracies, London: Routledge, →ISBN

    [Éric Zemmour] does not hesitate to push the white nationalist conspiracy theory of the supposed great replacement of the established population by newer arrivals from Africa.

    2021 September 14, Norimitsu Onishi, “A Fox-Style News Network Rides a Wave of Discontent in France”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2022

Synonyms & antonyms

Origin

  1. FrenchGrand Remplacement
  2. EnglishGreat Replacement

Calque of French Grand Remplacement. Coined by French novelist, conspiracy theorist and writer Renaud Camus in 2010.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 大替換 /大替换
  • 大替換 /大替换 (Dà Tìhuàn)Translations
Dutch Grote Vervanging, Grote Omvolking
  • Grote VervangingTranslations
  • Grote OmvolkingTranslations
  • omvolkingTranslations
Finnish väestönvaihto
  • väestönvaihtoTranslations
French Grand Remplacement
  • Grand RemplacementTranslations
German großer Austausch
  • großer AustauschTranslations
Greek Μεγάλη αντικατάσταση
  • Μεγάλη αντικατάσταση (Megáli antikatástasi)Translations
Polish Wielka Podmiana
  • Wielka PodmianaTranslations
Russian великое замещение
  • великое замещение (velikoje zameščenije)Translations
Swedish folkutbyte
  • folkutbyteTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

great replacement. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/great%20replacement

MLA

“great replacement.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/great%20replacement. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “great replacement,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/great%20replacement.

Source: great replacement on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.