Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A substitute.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who or that which supplies the place of another; that which is used for something else; a substitute.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Med.) One who, or that which, succeeds to the place of another; that which is used for something else; a substitute

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A substitute, replacement for something else, particularly of a medicine used in place of another.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (medicine) something that can be used as a substitute (especially any medicine that may be taken in place of another)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin succēdāneum, from Latin, neuter sing. of succēdāneus, substituted, from succēdere, to succeed; see succeed.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Modern Latin, neuter singular of Latin succedaneus ‘acting as substitute’, from succedere ‘come close after’, from sub- + cedere ‘go’.

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Examples

  • The order is peculiarly Moslem, in fact the succedaneum for the

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • “Líf,” a succedaneum for the unclean sponge, not unknown in the “Turkish Baths” of London.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • Scott renders “pepper” (Lane i. 8) and it forms a clean succedaneum for one of the uncleanest articles of civilisation, the sponge.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • It is very certain, that speculation is no succedaneum for life.

    Uncollected Prose 2006

  • The observers can demonstrate that they are real observers and not a succedaneum like the Carter Center.

    Electoral trouble ahead in Venezuela 2005

  • The observers can demonstrate that they are real observers and not a succedaneum like the Carter Center.

    11/27/2005 - 12/04/2005 2005

  • The bark of the willow has, indeed, been justly considered as a succedaneum for Peruvian bark, as has also that of the horse-chestnut tree, the leaf of the holly, the snake-root, etc. It was evidently necessary to make trial of this substance, although not so valuable as Peruvian bark, and to employ it in its natural state, since they had no means for extracting its essence.

    The Mysterious Island 2005

  • The bark of the willow has, indeed, been justly considered as a succedaneum for Peruvian bark, as has also that of the horse-chestnut tree, the leaf of the holly, the snake-root, etc. It was evidently necessary to make trial of this substance, although not so valuable as Peruvian bark, and to employ it in its natural state, since they had no means for extracting its essence.

    The Mysterious Island 2005

  • Besides, since nature supplies cold as sparingly, we must do as the apothecaries do who, when they cannot get a simple, take its succedaneum or quid pro quo, as they call it — such as aloes for balsam, cassia for cinnamon.

    The New Organon 2005

  • Mr. Rerechild, the Barchester doctor whom she employed; and then the young mother mentioned some shockingly modern succedaneum which

    Barchester Towers 2004

Comments

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  • from Trollope

    October 1, 2007

  • "...when Pallet recovered his recollection, and swore that he would rather swallow porridge made of burning brimstone, than such an infernal mess as that which he had tasted, the physician, in his own vindication, assured the company, that, except the usual ingredients, he had mixed nothing in the soup but some sal ammoniac instead of the ancient nitrum, which could not now be procured; and appealed to the marquis, whether such a succedaneum was not an improvement on the whole."

    — Smollett, Peregrine Pickle

    March 1, 2022