replaceableadj.
/rᵻˈpleɪsəbl/, /(ˌ)riːˈpleɪsəbl/, U.S. /rəˈpleɪsəb(ə)l/, /riˈpleɪsəb(ə)l/ 1. That can be replaced.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > exchange > substitution > supplanting or replacement > [adjective] > that may be replaced
replaceable1769
1769 Mem. for J. Craich & J. Mitchell 7 Your Lordships must perceive how easy it was to replace them [sc. trees]; but whether replaceable or not, appears to the defenders to be a very immaterial fact.
1805 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. 3 236 The concurring individuals..appear but as insignificant and replaceable instruments.
1862 Continental Monthly Aug. 178/1 I have a friend, who declares that he has lost a smile. Not one from his sweetheart, for that would be either recoverable or replaceable with another.
1894 Homestead (Des Moines, Iowa) 26 Jan. 13/3 The frame is indestructible, and as the wearing points are replaceable, it will last a lifetime.
1939 Fortune Oct. 11/1 (caption) The first efficient, low-cost replaceable air filter.
1967 New Statesman 29 Dec. 902/1 We shall go on being lectured and told to draw in our belts by a faceless and endlessly replaceable body of men.
1998 A. Fadiman Ex Libris 150 Each volume is one-of-a-kind, neither replaceable from a publisher's warehouse nor visually identical to its original siblings.
2. Chemistry. Of an atom in a substance or molecule: capable of being readily replaced (by a different atom). Usually: spec. designating a hydrogen atom in an acid which can be replaced by a metal or base.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical substances > acids > [adjective] > relating to acids general > denoting replaceable hydrogen atoms
replaceable1895
1835 London & Edinb. Philos. Mag. 6 330 This second atom of water present in hydrated sulphuric acid, is replaceable by sulphate of potash.
1895 W. A. Tilden Introd. Study of Chem. Philos. (ed. 8) xv. 140 Tartaric acid..cannot be less than C4H6O6, on account of the existence of the double tartrates, which prove that the acid contains two replaceable basic hydrogen atoms.
1930 W. R. Anderson School Cert. Chem. iv. 47 With sulphuric acid we can get a salt by turning out half the hydrogen present, but this salt still contains replaceable hydrogen.
1992 Lipids 27 567 To ascertain the effect of a replaceable hydrogen on deuterium incorporation, 2-pentynol, 2-hexynol, 3-hexynol, [etc.]..were deuterated catalytically with deuterium gas.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1769