Relieve vs Substitute - What's the difference?
relieve | substitute |
To ease (a person, person's thoughts etc.) from mental distress; to stop (someone) feeling anxious or worried, to alleviate the distress of.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5
, passage=Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.}}
To ease (someone, a part of the body etc.) or give relief from physical pain or discomfort.
To alleviate (pain, distress, mental discomfort etc.).
To provide comfort or assistance to (someone in need, especially in poverty).
(obsolete) To lift up; to raise again.
(legal) To free (someone) from debt or legal obligations; to give legal relief to.
To bring military help to (a besieged town); to lift the seige on.
To release (someone) from or of a difficulty, unwanted task, responsibility etc.
(military, job) To free (someone) from their post, task etc. by taking their place.
* 1819 , (Lord Byron), , III.76:
* 1927 , (Countee Cullen), From the Dark Tower :
(reflexive) To go to the toilet; to defecate or urinate.
To use in place of something else, with the same function.
In the phrase "substitute X for Y", to use X in place of Y. With increasing frequency used in the semantically opposite sense (see
In the phrase "substitute X with/by Y", to use Y in place of X; to replace X with Y
(sports) To remove (a player) from the field of play and bring on another in his place.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=April 11
, author=Phil McNulty
, title=Liverpool 3 - 0 Man City
, work=BBC Sport
To serve as a replacement (for someone or something)
* 1987 , , Essays in Economics, Vol. 2 , p. 75
A replacement or stand-in for something that achieves a similar result or purpose.
* De Quincey
(sports) A player who is available to replace another if the need arises, and who may or may not actually do so.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=November 3
, author=David Ornstein
, title=Macc Tel-Aviv 1 - 2 Stoke
, work=BBC Sport
(historical) One who enlists for military service in the place of a conscript.
As verbs the difference between relieve and substitute
is that relieve is to ease (a person, person's thoughts etc) from mental distress; to stop (someone) feeling anxious or worried, to alleviate the distress of while substitute is to use in place of something else, with the same function.As a noun substitute is
a replacement or stand-in for something that achieves a similar result or purpose.relieve
English
Verb
(reliev)- This shall not relieve either Party of any obligations.
- The henna should be deeply dyed to make / The skin relieved appear more fairly fair [...].
- The night whose sable breast relieves the stark / White stars is no less lovely being dark
Synonyms
* (l)Derived terms
* relieve oneselfExternal links
* * ----substitute
English
Verb
(substitut)- I had no shallots so I substituted onion.
the OED's notes).
- I had to substitute new parts for the old ones.
- I had to substitute old parts with the new ones. (This usage was formerly proscribed.)
- He was playing poorly and was substituted after twenty minutes
citation, page= , passage=Mario Balotelli replaced Tevez but his contribution was so negligible that he suffered the indignity of being substituted himself as time ran out, a development that encapsulated a wretched 90 minutes for City and boss Roberto Mancini. }}
- Accumulation of wealth by this route may substitute for personal saving.
Usage notes
The verb "to substitute" can be used transitively in two opposite ways. "To substitute X" may mean either "use X in place of something else" (as in definitions 1 and 2), or "use something else in place of X" (as in definitions 3 and 4). The latter use is more recent, but it is widespread and now generally accepted (seethe COED's note on the matter). However, if the indirect object (the "something else") is omitted, the preposition is also omitted, and the reader or hearer cannot tell which sense is meant: * "Substitute butter for olive oil" = Use butter instead of olive oil * "Substitute olive oil for butter" = Use olive oil instead of butter * "Substitute butter" = ??? * "Substitute olive oil" = ???
Noun
(en noun)- Ladies [in Shakespeare's age] wore masks as the sole substitute known to our ancestors for the modern parasol.
citation, page= , passage=Dean Whitehead opened the scoring shortly after the break with a low finish and substitute Peter Crouch sealed the win with a tap-in.}}