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substituent

substituent

7.9
A person or thing that takes another's place for a time
  • noun
  • /ˈsʌbstɪtjuənt/
translation icon : sustituto
  • When my friend couldn't attend the event, I quickly found a suitable substituent to take her place.

Examples

  • The company hired a substituent to fill in during the manager's absence for the crucial meeting.

  • And this is the term for the substituent, the substituent.

  • i.e., the "substituent effect" on change E at a given level, as shown in Scheme 7.

    Academic text (2001)

  • But, but in fact, they chose the most substituents, and you'll see why shortly.

  • In the classroom, the new teacher acted as a substituent for the regular instructor who was on leave.

Synonyms

replacement
vssubstituent
282 2.0

A person or thing that takes the place of another

is more general and non-technical than this expression
substitute
vssubstituent
211 3.2

A person or thing that takes the place of another

is the non-technical, general term for the same role
replacer
vssubstituent
1 4.0

A person or thing that takes the place of another

is a general non-technical label rather than an agent focused word
suppositum
vssubstituent
  • Archaic
9.9

A person or thing placed to take another person's place

is the everyday modern non-technical concept rather than archaic use

Antonyms

original
∞ 2.8

Not a copy and existing as the first form

How Permanent

successor
146 3.7
replacement
282 2.0
substituent
7.9
stand-in
13 4.2

Surface Forms

substituent singular
substituents plural

Morphology

substituent = substitute (transparent) = substitute + ent

The sense is a straightforward agent/thing reading: 'substitute' + '-ent' = one that substitutes.

Etymology

Substituent is built from the same parts as substitute: sub- 'in place of' and stitute 'to put'. So a substituent is something put in someone else's place, which is why it means 'a person or thing that takes the place of another'.