Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - replace

 transitive verb  Date: 1595  1. to restore to a former place or position ~ cards in a file  2. to take the place of especially as a substitute or successor  3. to put something new in the place of ~ a worn carpet  • ~able adjective  • ~r noun Synonyms:  ~, displace, supplant, supersede mean to put out of a usual or proper place or into the place of another. ~ implies a filling of a place once occupied by something lost, destroyed, or no longer usable or adequate ~d the broken window. displace implies an ousting or dislodging war had displaced thousands. supplant implies either a dispossessing or usurping of another's place, possessions, or privileges or an uprooting of something and its ~ment with something else was abruptly supplanted in her affections by another. supersede implies replacing a person or thing that has become superannuated, obsolete, or otherwise inferior the new edition supersedes all previous ones.