substitutableadj.
/ˈsʌbstᵻtjuːtəbl/, /ˈsʌbstᵻtʃuːtəbl/, U.S. /ˈsəbstəˌt(j)udəbəl/ 1.
a. Capable of being put in place of something else. Also with for.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > exchange > substitution > [adjective] > making a substitute
suppliable1583
substituting1634
substitutable1805
1805 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. 3 312 It will always bear a regular proportion to that of other substitutable food.
a1832 J. Bentham Lang. in Wks. (1843) VIII. 314 Substitute the singular to the plural number when substitutable without impropriety!
1905 W. James Meaning of Truth (1909) v. 132 What knows it [sc. reality] is defined as an experience that ‘represents’ it, in the sense of being substitutable for it in our thinking.
1941 Mind 50 167 Both the original word and all signs substitutable for it stand independently for universals.
2006 T. Harford Undercover Economist i. 25 Workers were a plentiful commodity: all gathered together in urban concentrations, easily substitutable for each other.
b. Of two or more things: capable of being put or used in place of each other; interchangeable.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > exchange > [adjective] > interchangeable
convertiblec1386
interchangeablea1569
commutable1649
exchangeable1651
counterchangeable1672
permutable1776
transpositionala1800
interconvertible1827
transposable1835
substitutable1925
1925 Jrnl. Oil & Fat Industries 2 56 Peanut, corn, soy bean, palm..all oils that through hydrogenation and refining are largely substitutable.
1961 W. R. Brain Speech Disorders v. 57 Even a phoneme is abstract, since it stands for and represents an indefinite variety of mutually substitutable phones.
1992 K. S. Robinson Green Mars (1995) 77 Man-made capital and natural capital are not substitutable... Put simply, you can't substitute more sawmills for fewer forests.
2007 P. Burton Lang. in Confessions of Augustine iii. 70 In each pair, the two terms are substitutable in certain contexts only (napkin versus serviette is the most synonymous pair, and this is not entirely so).
2. Able to be replaced; replaceable. Also with by.
ΚΠ
1844 Chem. Gaz. 1 June 252 Besides the atom of water substitutable by bases, these 2 atoms of water are contained likewise as such in the opianic acid in a state of combination.
1854 Blackburn Standard 20 Dec. The maternal milk is scarcely substitutable—cow's milk differs materially from woman's.
1923 Times 10 Mar. 12/5 There are three thousand substitutable women in the Ministry of Pensions whom Major Tryon seems quite indisposed to shift for the ex-Service men on the pool awaiting employment.
1985 L. Moore Growth & Struct. Internat. Trade since Second World War ii. 22 Wood pulp, and..rubber..are the products of trees but the latter, unlike the former, is substitutable by synthetics.
2002 Economist 6 July (Surv. Global Environment section) 3/3 Implicit in that argument is the seemingly hard-hearted notion..that natural resources, whether petroleum or giant pandas, are substitutable.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1805