substitute /; AmE / noun, verb

■ noun [C]

a thing or person that you use or have instead of the one you normally use or have:

These products use beans as a substitute for meat.

fat/sugar substitutes

An MBA teaches you the theory but there's no substitute for experience.

■ verb [+ obj or no obj] substitute for sb/sth | substitute A (for B) | substitute B (with/by A)

to take the place of sth else; to use sb/sth instead of sb/sth else:

Can you find someone to substitute for you at the meeting?

Manufacturers have been substituting low-grade coffee beans for more expensive ones.

Expensive beans have been substituted with/by low-grade ones.

In recent models, carbon fibre panels are substituted for aluminium.

The plan is to substitute the nuclear plant with wind farms within 10 years.

Computer simulations can substitute for many of the former tests.

NOTE When be substituted is used, or for, with or by are not used, it can sometimes be difficult to tell whether the person or thing mentioned is being used, or has been replaced by somebody or something else:

Managers might decide to substitute a consultant. The context will usually make this clear.

substitution /; AmE / noun [U,C]:

the substitution of mobiles for fixed phones

• heads of agreement
• heads-up
• head-to-head
• headway
• health
• health and safety
• Health and Safety Commission
• Health and Safety Executive
• health care
• health insurance
• health warning
• healthy
• hearing
• heartland
• heatseeker
• heavy
• heavy-duty
• heavy engineering
• heavy equipment
• heavy goods vehicle
• heavy half
• heavy haulage
• travel agent
• traveller
• traveller's cheque