step in

See also: step-in

English

Verb

step in (third-person singular simple present steps in, present participle stepping in, simple past and past participle stepped in)

1. (intransitive) To act as a replacement or substitute.
   • 2011 December 29, Keith Jackson, “SPL: Celtic 1 Rangers 0”, in Daily Record‎^[1]:

     McCoist unexpectedly ushered back a defender of his own with Kirk Broadfoot taking over from Steven Whittaker. There was, of course, another change, Kyle Bartley stepping in at centre-half to replace suspended Dorin Goian.

2. (intransitive) To get involved; to act

Translations

To act as a replacement or substitute.

• Catalan: reemplaçar (ca), substituir (ca)
• French: remplacer (fr), substituer (fr)
• German: ersetzen (de)
• Ido: remplasar (io)
• Italian: rimpiazzare (it)
• Portuguese: substituir (pt)
• Spanish: reemplazar (es), substituir (es)

To get involved

• French: intervenir (fr)
• Greek: επεμβαίνω (el) (epemvaíno), παρεμβαίνω (el) (paremvaíno)
• Italian: intervenire (it)
• Spanish: intervenir (es), tomar cartas en el asunto (colloquial)

To act — see act

Anagrams

• T-spine, in step, instep, nepits, pinest, septin, spinet