Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1400-1500
Language: Latin
Origin: , past participle of substituere 'to put in place of', from statuere; STATUTE

substitute

1 noun
     
sub‧sti‧tute1 [countable]
1 also sub someone who does someone else's job for a limited period of time, especially in a sports team or school:
Germany brought on a substitute at half time.
substitute goalkeeper
substitute for
The coach has to find a substitute for Tim.
2 a person or thing that you use instead of the one that you usually have, because the usual one is not available:
a sugar substitute
a father substitute
3

be no substitute for something

used to emphasize that something is not as good as another thing:
Vitamin pills are no substitute for a healthy diet.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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