Link Centre Dictionary

instead

ins·tead

UK/ɪnˈstiːd/ US/ɪnˈstɛd/ very common

adverb

1.

in place of, or as an alternative to

  • “Felix became a herpetologist instead”
  • “alternatively we could buy a used car”
Synonyms
2.

on the contrary

  • “rather than disappoint the children, he did two quick tricks before he left”
  • “he didn”
  • “;”
Synonyms

Origin

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

Related words

Pertaining to

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.