verb (used with object), dis·placed, dis·plac·ing.
- to compel (a person or persons) to leave home, country, etc.
- to move or put out of the usual or proper place.
- to take the place of; replace; supplant: Fiction displaces fact.
- to remove from a position, office, or dignity.
- Obsolete. to rid oneself of.
verb (tr)
- to move from the usual or correct location
- to remove from office or employment
- to occupy the place of; replace; supplant
- to force (someone) to leave home or country, as during a war
- chem to replace (an atom or group in a chemical compound) by another atom or group
- physics to cause a displacement of (a quantity of liquid, usually water of a specified type and density)
1550s, from Middle French desplacer (15c.), from des- (see dis-) + placer “to place.” Related: Displaced; displacing. Displaced person “refugee” is from 1944.