Definition of "displacement" []

• The act of displacing. (noun)
• The condition of having been displaced. (noun)
• Chemistry A reaction in which an atom, radical, or molecule replaces another in a compound. (noun)
• Physics A vector or the magnitude of a vector from the initial position to a subsequent position assumed by a body. (noun)
• Physics The weight or volume of a fluid displaced by a floating body, used especially as a measurement of the weight or bulk of ships. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Kuhn had attacked my Whiggish use of the term "displacement current.""
• "The first paper, presented by Matthias Bernt from Berlin, usefully set out to define the term displacement - the central theme of the conference."
• "There's wear and tear, and more importantly, there's what they call a displacement of not doing the things to care for yourself."