Meanings
present singular third person supersedes · participle present superseding · participle past superseded · past superseded · alternative supercede · alternative superseed
- transitiveTo take the place of.
Those older products have been superseded by our new range.
3 more examples
Then one deep love doth supersede All other, when her ardent gaze Roves from the living brother’s face, And rests upon the Life indeed.
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 51A new marshalling yard at Perth will supersede existing yards, and will secure greater economy and efficiency in working.
1957 April 28, “Modernisation Schemes in Scotland”, in Railway Magazine, page 222In the early days troubles were experienced with oscillation from the rod drive and with the transformers, but were overcome later, and these machines performed useful service until superseded by more modern locomotives less costly in maintenance.
1960 December, Cecil J. Allen, “Operating a mountain main line: the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 743
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
verbtake the place or move into the position of
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*úp
- Proto-Indo-European*upér
- Proto-Italic*super
- Latinsuper
- Latinsuper-
- Proto-Indo-European*sed-
- Proto-Indo-European*sedéh₁yeti
- Proto-Italic*sedēō
- Latinsedeō
- Latinsupersedēre
- Middle Frenchsuperseder
- Englishsupersede
From Middle French superseder (“postpone, defer”), from Latin supersedēre, from super (“over”) + sedēre (“to sit”). The meaning “to replace” is from 1642, probably by association with unrelated precede – note that c instead of s (from cēdere (“to yield”), not sedēre (“to sit”)). As a result, supercede is a common misspelling – see therein for further discussion. Doublet of surcease.
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian замествам, измествам
- замествам (zamestvam)take the place of
- измествам (izmestvam)displace in favour of another
Catalan substituir, reemplaçar
- substituirtake the place of
- reemplaçardisplace in favour of another
Chinese Mandarin 代替, 替換 /替换
- 代替 (dàitì)take the place of
- 替換 /替换 (tìhuàn)take the place of
Dutch vervangen, opzij zetten
- vervangentake the place of
- opzij zettenset aside
- verdringendisplace in favour of another
Finnish korvata, korvata
- korvatatake the place of
- korvataset aside
French supplanter
- supplantertake the place of
German ablösen, ersetzen
- ablösentake the place of
- ersetzentake the place of
- den Platz einnehmen vontake the place of
- aufhebenset aside
- ablösenset aside
- verdrängendisplace in favour of another
Hungarian helyettesít, érvénytelenít
- helyettesíttake the place of
- érvénytelenítset aside
- hatályon kívül helyezset aside
- kiszorítdisplace in favour of another
Italian sostituire, superare
- sostituiretake the place of
- superareset aside
- soppiantaredisplace in favour of another
Māori whakatūnguru
- whakatūngurutake the place of
Norwegian avløse
- avløsetake the place of
Polish zastąpić, odłożyć
- zastąpićtake the place of
- odłożyćset aside
- unieważnićset aside
- zastąpićdisplace in favour of another
- zamienićdisplace in favour of another
Portuguese substituir, sobrepor
- substituirtake the place of
- sobreporset aside
- substituirdisplace in favour of another
- suplantardisplace in favour of another
Russian замеща́ть, замести́ть
- замеща́ть (zameščátʹ)take the place of
- замести́ть (zamestítʹ)take the place of
- смеща́ть (smeščátʹ)set aside
- смести́ть (smestítʹ)set aside
- вытесня́ть (vytesnjátʹ)displace in favour of another
- вы́теснить (výtesnitʹ)displace in favour of another
Spanish subseguir
- subseguirtake the place of
Swedish ersätta, avlysa
- ersättatake the place of
- avlysaset aside
- avskaffaset aside
- tränga undandisplace in favour of another
Turkish yerine geçmek, yürürlükten kaldırmak
- yerine geçmektake the place of
- yürürlükten kaldırmakset aside
- ilgâ etmekset aside
- ayağını kaydırmakdisplace in favour of another
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with supersede
Cite this entry
supersede. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/supersede
“supersede.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/supersede. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “supersede,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/supersede.
Source: supersede on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.