substituere

Substituere is a Latin verb meaning to substitute, replace, or place in someone’s stead. It can denote both literal replacement (to place one thing in the place of another) and figurative substitution (to act as a stand-in for a person). The form is built from sub- “under” and statuere “to place,” with early nuances suggesting “to place under,” later expanding to the sense of replacement or succession.

Grammatically, substituere belongs to the third conjugation. Its principal parts are substituo, substituere, substitui, substitutus. As a transitive verb, it typically governs a direct object referring to the thing or person being replaced and can appear in a range of voices and tenses across classical and late Latin.

Usage notes include its frequent appearance in contexts of appointment or replacement—whether in civil, military, ecclesiastical, or administrative settings—where a substitute or vicar is designated to perform duties in another’s stead. It also appears in literal senses of replacement, such as substituting one object for another.

Morphology and common forms follow standard third-conjugation patterns. The present passive is substituitur (“it is substituted”); imperfect passive is substituebatur (“it was being substituted”). The perfect passive participle is substitutus, used with forms of sum to yield phrases such as substitutus sum (“I have been substituted”).

Substituere thus provides a versatile term for both concrete and abstract substitution, with a long history in Latin legal, ecclesiastical, and literary texts.