supersede
Americanverb (used with object)
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to replace in power, authority, effectiveness, acceptance, use, etc., as by another person or thing.
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to set aside or cause to be set aside as void, useless, irrelevant, or obsolete, usually in consideration of something mentioned.
The success of the vaccine superseded the necessity of a smallpox hospital, and the enterprise was abandoned almost as soon as conceived.
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to succeed to the position, function, office, etc., of; supplant.
verb
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to take the place of (something old-fashioned or less appropriate); supplant
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to replace in function, office, etc; succeed
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to discard or set aside or cause to be set aside as obsolete or inferior
Related Words
See replace.
Other Word Forms
- supersedable adjective
- supersedence noun
- superseder noun
- supersedure noun
- supersession noun
- unsuperseding adjective
Etymology
Origin of supersede
First recorded in 1485–95; from Latin supersedēre “to sit above or upon, forbear,” equivalent to super- super- + sedēre “to sit”; sit 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Any beneficiary designations you have set up will supersede whatever is listed in a will.
From MarketWatch
The electricity it makes is expensive, its technology has been superseded, and it’s incinerating thousands of birds mid-flight each year.
From Los Angeles Times
The plasticity of digital information is superseding earlier modes of expression and expertise, as the printing press did the scribe.
County counsel Dawyn R. Harrison told the supervisors the ordinance “would most likely be challenged on the supremacy clause,” which holds that federal law supersedes state and local law.
From Los Angeles Times
Tuesday's ruling then superseded this and became a final decision on the hotel's operation.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
