instead

English

Alternative forms

• enstead (obsolete)
• in stead (obsolete)

Etymology

in +‎ stead, from Middle English ine (“in”) + stede (“stead”). Related to German statt.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĭn-stěd', IPA^(key): /ɪnˈstɛd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛd

Adverb

instead (not comparable)

1. In the place of something (usually mentioned earlier); as a substitute or alternative.

   I was going to go shopping, but I went dancing instead.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     ‘It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion.’

   • 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:

     Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […]  But the scandals kept coming, […]. A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches.

Synonyms

• in lieu

Derived terms

• instead of

Translations

in the place of (it)

• Albanian: në vend të, në vend që
• Arabic: بَدَلاً مِن (badalan min)
• Aramaic:

  Syriac: ܚܠܦ (ħlap)

• Assamese: -অৰ সলনি (-or xoloni), আনহাতে (anhate)
• Bashkir: урынына (urınına)
• Bengali: পরিবর্তে (bn) (poriborte)
• Breton: kentoc'h (br)
• Bulgarian: вме́сто (bg) (vmésto)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 代替 (zh) (dàitì), 抵作 (dǐzuò)

• Coptic: ⲁⲛⲧⲓ (anti)
• Czech: namísto (cs), místo toho
• Danish: i stedet, i stedet for
• Dutch: in plaats daarvan
• Esperanto: anstataŭe
• Finnish: asemasta (fi), sen sijaan, sen sijasta, tilalle
• French: à la place (fr), au lieu de (fr)
• German: stattdessen (de), anstatt (de)
• Greek: αντί (el) (antí)
• Hebrew: במקום
• Hindi: के बजाय (ke bajāy)
• Hungarian: helyette (hu), inkább (hu)
• Icelandic: í staðinn, í stað þess
• Indonesian: malah (id)
• Irish: ina ionad, ina áit
• Italian: in luogo di, invece (it), al posto di
• Japanese: ...の代わりに (ja) (...no kawari-ni)
• Korean: 대신에 (ko) (daesine)
• Macedonian: наместо (namesto), место (mesto)
• Norwegian: isteden (no), i staden, i stedet (no)
• Polish: zamiast (pl)
• Portuguese: em vez de (pt), ao invés de (pt), antes (pt)
• Romanian: în loc de
• Russian: вме́сто (ru) (vmésto) (+ genitive case)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: место / misto / мјесто, уместо / умјесто

  Roman: mesto (sh) / misto / mjesto (sh), umesto / umjesto, u zamjenu

• Sicilian: mmeci, scanciu
• Slovene: namésto
• Spanish: en vez de, en lugar de (es)
• Swedish: istället (sv)
• Thai: แทน (th) (taen)
• Turkish: yerine (tr)
• Ukrainian: нато́мість (natómistʹ)
• Venetian: invése, invéze, inveẑe (vec)
• Vietnamese: thay vì (vi)

Anagrams

• Danites, Sidetan, Tiendas, destain, detains, nidates, sainted, satined, stained, tiendas