Meaning & use
replaceable
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Able to be swapped for a new or different one when it is lost, broken or worn out.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: a replaceable battery, the part is replaceable.
Patterns
- easily replaceable
- be replaceable by something
The filter is replaceable, so you do not need a new machine.
Most of the screws are cheap and easily replaceable.
The cartridges are replaceable, but they are expensive.
adjectivecomparable
Not so special or skilled that someone else could not do the same job as well.
Grammar: Often used about people, usually in the negative: no one is truly replaceable.
Patterns
- be replaceable by someone
- feel replaceable
The manager made staff feel replaceable by cutting their training.
In a large factory, every worker can seem replaceable.
Nobody is completely replaceable in a close family.
Word forms
| comparative | more replaceable |
|---|---|
| superlative | most replaceable |
Common combinations
- easily replaceable
- The lightbulbs are easily replaceable without any tools.
- readily replaceable
- Basic parts are readily replaceable at any hardware store.
- replaceable battery
- This watch has a replaceable battery.
- feel replaceable
- After the merger, many employees began to feel replaceable.
- not easily replaceable
- Her experience is not easily replaceable.
Synonyms and how they differ
- expendable
- Expendable suggests something can be given up or sacrificed as unimportant, which is harsher than replaceable.
- disposable
- Disposable means designed to be thrown away after one use, while replaceable items are intended to be swapped for repair.
- interchangeable
- Interchangeable describes items that can be swapped for each other with no difference, rather than replacing something lost.
- substitutable
- Substitutable is more technical and is used in science and economics, while replaceable is everyday English.
Opposites
Word family
- replace verb
- to put something new in the place of something else
- replacement noun
- a person or thing that takes the place of another
- irreplaceable adjective
- too valuable or special to be replaced
- replaceability noun
- the quality of being able to be replaced
Commonly confused: replaceable or irreplaceable? replaceable or repairable?
replaceable vs irreplaceable
Irreplaceable is the opposite: it means impossible to replace, while replaceable means possible to replace.
replaceable vs repairable
Repairable means it can be mended, while replaceable means it can be swapped for another.
Practice
The old phone broke, but luckily its screen was ___ at a small cost.
Choose one answer.
Replaceable means it can be swapped for a new one. Irreplaceable says the opposite, and the other options do not describe a part that can be changed.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “replaceable”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.