supersede

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English superceden (“to postpone, defer”), a Scottish form,^[2][3][4] partly borrowed from Middle French superceder, also superseder, which meant to defer action or delay from 1413 and to postpone from 1454, and partly borrowed from Latin supersedeō (“to sit on top of; to abstain, refrain or desist from”).^[5][3] Etymonline takes it from the Latin verb alone.^[6] In post-classical Latin the verb also meant to fail to pay when due (11th century), to fail to attend (from the 12th century) and, often in British sources from the 13th century, to stay legal proceedings.^[5] It is formed from super- (“above”) and sedeō (“to sit”),^[5][6][7][8] from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”).^[6][2] The Latin verb is related to sedentary,^[7][9][8] and surcease comes from a parallel French verb, French surseoir;^[5][8][10] the same Latin compound gave Spanish sobreseer (13th century) and Italian soprassedere (1340).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Scots, intransitive, to defer action, to delay: 1433–4, in the Aberdeen burgh records.^[5] Barnhart dates superceden, to postpone or defer, to 1456,^[3][11] and Etymonline to the mid-15th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The early senses, all first recorded in Scotland, were about putting off or holding back: to postpone or suspend (1482, still used in law), to desist or refrain (1449–1850), to give up a procedure (1499–1750) and to leave something unmentioned (1560–1689, first in John Knox).^[5][12] Ayto explains the path from the literal "sit above" to "be above" something, or to "desist" from it.^[7] From 1618 the verb meant to make void or of no effect, to override,^[5] which Etymonline dates to the early 17th century^[6] and Johnson (1755) gave as its only sense: "to make void or inefficacious by superiour power; to set aside".^[13] The senses of replacement, the main ones today, began about 1540 with putting another thing in the place of something;^[5] in the passive, to be discarded as obsolete and replaced by something better, it is recorded from 1642,^[5][3] and to take the place of something from 1657.^[5] Etymonline dates "take the room of" to the 1650s,^[6] and the Oxford Dictionary of English puts the current sense in the mid-17th century.^[14] Of a person removed from an office and replaced, it is recorded from 1710, and of the successor who supplants him from 1755.^[5] Weekley found the development of the current sense somewhat obscure.^[10] In law the verb also meant to stay proceedings (from 1643, now chiefly American), linked with the writ of supersedeas.^[5]

Timeline

• 1433 – in Scots, to defer action, delay (obsolete by 1683).^[5]
• 1449 – to desist, refrain (obsolete by 1850).^[5]
• 1482 – to postpone or suspend, chiefly in law.^[5]
• 1527 – the spelling supersede.^[3]
• c. 1540 – to put another thing in the place of something.^[5]
• 1560 – to refrain from mentioning (obsolete by 1689).^[5]
• 1618 – to make void, annul, override.^[5]
• 1642 – in the passive, to be discarded as obsolete and replaced.^[5][3]
• 1643 – in law, to stay proceedings.^[5]
• 1645 – to make superfluous.^[5]
• 1657 – to take the place of something.^[5] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate dates its first sense to 1654.^[4]
• 1710 – to remove a person from an office and replace him.^[5]
• 1755 – to succeed and supplant someone in a position.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To take the place of something older or less suitable; to replace or supplant: Email soon superseded the fax machine in most offices.^{[15][16][5][2]}
2. To take the place of a person in an office or position; to succeed.^[15][2][5]
3. To set aside or discard as obsolete or inferior.^[15][16]
4. To make of no effect; to override or take precedence over: The new regulation supersedes all earlier guidelines.^[5]
5. (law) To postpone or suspend; to stay proceedings.^[5][12]
6. (obsolete) To desist or refrain (1449–1850).^[5][12]

Word family

• superseder
• supersedable
• unsuperseded

Related words

• supersedure
• supersession
• supersedeas
• surcease
• sedentary
• sit

Usage notes

Early spellings often had -cede,^[17][12] and the OED lists supercede from the 17th century, calling it now nonstandard; it puts these forms down to the influence of etymologically unrelated verbs in -cede such as recede and precede, perhaps partly after similar Middle French and post-classical Latin spellings.^[5] Weekley saw the influence of Latin cēdō (“to yield”) in the Medieval Latin spelling with c.^[10] The American Heritage Dictionary gives supercede as a variant,^[2] while Wiktionary calls it a common misspelling, since supersede is the only English word ending in -sede, beside three in -ceed (succeed, proceed, exceed) and several in -cede.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
17. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press