Substitute vs Factor - What's the difference?
substitute | factor | Related terms |
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.
(obsolete) A doer, maker; a person who does things for another person or organization.
An agent or representative.
* (Christopher Marlowe)
*, II.21:
*:And let such as will number the Kings of Castile and Portugall amongst the warlike and magnanimous conquerors, seeke for some other adherent then my selfe, forsomuch as twelve hundred leagues from their idle residence they have made themselves masters of both Indias, onely by the conduct and direction of their factors , of whom it would be knowne whether they durst but goe and enjoy them in person.
* 1644 , (John Milton), (Aeropagitica) :
(legal)
# A commission agent.
# A person or business organization that provides money for another's new business venture; one who finances another's business.
# A business organization that lends money on accounts receivable or buys and collects accounts receivable.
One of the elements, circumstances, or influences which contribute to produce a result.
* (Herbert Spencer)
(mathematics) Any of various objects multiplied together to form some whole.
* 1956 , , (The City and the Stars) , p.38:
(root cause analysis) Influence; a phenomenon that affects the nature, the magnitude, and/or the timing of a consequence.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=
, title= (economics) A resource used in the production of goods or services, a factor of production.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (Scotland) A steward or bailiff of an estate.
To find all the factors of (a number or other mathematical object) (the objects that divide it evenly).
(of a number or other mathematical object) To be a product of other objects.
Substitute is a related term of factor.
In lang=en terms the difference between substitute and factor
is that substitute is to serve as a replacement (for someone or something) while factor is to find all the factors of (a number or other mathematical object) (the objects that divide it evenly).As verbs the difference between substitute and factor
is that substitute is to use in place of something else, with the same function while factor is to find all the factors of (a number or other mathematical object) (the objects that divide it evenly).As nouns the difference between substitute and factor
is that substitute is a replacement or stand-in for something that achieves a similar result or purpose while factor is (obsolete) a doer, maker; a person who does things for another person or organization.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.}}
Synonyms
* See alsofactor
English
(wikipedia factor)Alternative forms
* factour (archaic)Noun
(en noun)- My factor sends me word, a merchant's fled / That owes me for a hundred tun of wine.
- What does he therefore, but resolvs to give over toyling, and to find himself out som factor , to whose care and credit he may commit the whole managing of his religious affairs; som Divine of note and estimation that must be.
- the material and dynamical factors of nutrition
- The first thousand primesthe complete sequence of all those numbers that possessed no factors except themselves and unity.
Charles T. Ambrose
Alzheimer’s Disease, volume=101, issue=3, page=200, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems— […]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the cerebral cortex and tested in persons with senile dementia in long term studies.}}
T time, passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them
- (Sir Walter Scott)