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Glite Dictionary
🗣️ To inform 👤 To substitute 📝 To complete forms 🎨 To shade artwork
to fill in

to fill in

100 3.3
Do someone else's job for a short time
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : sustituir a
  • He's taking a personal day, so I'm filling in.

And I was wondering if you can come fill in for me that for those two weeks and starting on Tuesday, perfect timing.

Examples

Synonyms

to replace
vsto fill in
∞ 1.8

Put another thing or person in place of one that is broken

means doing someone's job for a short time not installing a long-term person
to cover
vsto fill in
362 3.1

To take someone's place and do their work for a short time

focuses on doing tasks for someone temporarily rather than taking over long term
to substitute
vsto fill in
130 2.4

To use one thing or person in place of another

is used for doing someone's job briefly rather than applying to objects
to stand in
vsto fill in
115 3.5

To take someone else's place for a short time

is used for briefly doing someone else's work not for permanent change
to spell
vsto fill in
26 6.3

Take someone's place for a short time at work

involves briefly doing the whole job for someone during their absence
to sit in for
vsto fill in
24 4.2

To take someone's place for a short time and do their job

focuses on briefly doing the same job rather than ending it
to sub
vsto fill in
  • Informal
19 5.8

To take someone's place for a short time

means doing another's job for a short time as a temporary helper
to stand in for
vsto fill in
14 3.2

To take someone's place for a short time

emphasizes short-term duty rather than a permanent appointment

How Involved

to take over
862 3.1
to fill in
100 3.3
to pinch-hit
  • US
8 7.6
to stand in
115 3.5
to step in
240 3.2

Surface Forms

fill in infinitive
filled in past
filled in past participle
filling in present participle
fills in third person singular

Morphology

fill + in

The sense of adding shading is a literal instantiation of 'fill' (to make something full by adding contents) combined with 'in' (into/inside), so the meaning of putting color or lines into areas is directly derivable from the constituents. This is a common, compositional phrasal-verb pattern and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both words would likely understand it.

Etymology

Fill in comes from the simple image of filling an empty place: imagine a line or team with a gap and someone steps forward to fill the space in. So, to 'fill in' someone means 'to act as a substitute' for a short time.