displace

[ dis-pleys ]

verb (used with object)

, dis·placed, dis·plac·ing.

1. to compel (a person or persons) to leave home, country, etc.
2. to move or put out of the usual or proper place.

   Synonyms: relocate

3. to take the place of; replace; supplant:

   Fiction displaces fact.

4. to remove from a position, office, or dignity.

   Synonyms: dismiss, oust, depose

5. Obsolete. to rid oneself of.

displace

/ dɪsˈpleɪs /

verb

1. to move from the usual or correct location
2. to remove from office or employment
3. to occupy the place of; replace; supplant
4. to force (someone) to leave home or country, as during a war
5. chem to replace (an atom or group in a chemical compound) by another atom or group
6. physics to cause a displacement of (a quantity of liquid, usually water of a specified type and density)

Derived Forms

• disˈplacer, noun
• disˈplaceable, adjective

Other Words From

• dis·placea·ble adjective
• predis·place verb (used with object) predisplaced predisplacing
• undis·placea·ble adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of displace¹

1545–55; dis- ¹ + place, perhaps modeled on Middle French desplacer

Synonym Study

Displace, misplace mean to put something in a different place from where it should be. To displace often means to shift something solid and comparatively immovable, more or less permanently from its place: The flood displaced houses from their foundations. To misplace is to put an object in a wrong place so that it is difficult to find: Papers belonging in the safe were misplaced and temporarily lost.

Example Sentences

“The destruction is so substantial that it indicates the intention to permanently displace many people,” it warns.

From BBC

“Anything that takes up a sizable portion of those 24 hours can displace the time that could be spent practicing these developmental capabilities.”

From Los Angeles Times

In Beit Hanoun, which was besieged for more than a month, Ms Msuya said food and water reached shelters Monday only for Israeli soldiers to forcibly displace people from those areas Tuesday.

From BBC

Yet, like leaders before him, Sir Keir will no doubt face further pressures during his leadership – whether further global conflicts, climate crises, or economic shocks – that displace people toward Britain.

From BBC

Some fear losing them will displace their formerly homeless residents.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• disturb
• evict
• expel
• force out
• lose
• uproot