instead
UK/ɪnˈstɛd/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ɪnˈsted/
instead adverb: in the place of something (usually mentioned earlier); as a substitute or alternative.
Adverb
instead (not comparable)
- In the place of something (usually mentioned earlier); as a substitute or alternative.
- I was going to go shopping, but I went dancing instead.
- ‘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.’1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- in lieu
instead meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
instead in Hindi
- in the place of (it)
- के बजाय ke bajāy
instead in Tamil
- ஒன்றுக்கு மாற்றாக, ஈடாக, பதிலாக
instead in Urdu
- instead, alternatively
- بجائے bajāe
instead in Bengali
- in the place of (it)
- পরিবর্তে poriborte
More languagesFewer languages
- instead in Malayalam
- പകരമായി, ബദലായി, തൽസ്ഥാനത്ത്
- instead in Kannada
- ಹೊರತಾಗಿ, ಬದಲಾಗಿ, ಬದಲಿಗೆ, ಪ್ರತಿಯಾಗಿ
- instead in Odia
- ବଦଳରେ badaḷare, ପରିବର୍ତ୍ତେ paribartte
- instead in Assamese
- আনহাতে anhate
- instead in Arabic
- بَدَلاً مِن badalan min
- instead in Malay
- sebaliknya
- instead in Indonesian
- malah
- instead in Thai
- แทน taen
- instead in Vietnamese
- thay vì
Examples of instead in a sentence
- The government have done a U-turn and are now supporting greater European integration instead of opposing it.
- The Spanish teacher told the student to use the imperfect tense instead of the preterite tense.
- We like to drink skim milk instead so as to consume fewer calories.
Synonyms of instead
Forms of instead
| alternative pronunciation-spelling | 'nstead |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | enstead |
| alternative form (obsolete) | in steed |
| alternative form (obsolete) | in stead |
Origin of instead
From in + stead, from Middle English ine (“in”) + stede (“stead”). Related to German statt.
Words formed from instead
Words that rhyme with instead
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- dread
- wed
- ahead
- bread
- sled
- embed
- in one's stead
- inbred
- ped
- zed
- bestead
- cred
- ed
- fed
- med
- undead
- abed
- bedspread
- DMZ
- Fred
- led
- Prussian red
- retread
- spoon-fed
- unwed
- z
- antired
- aspread
- bark bed
- behead
- bested
- bled
- block head
- bred
- cabin bed
- common thread
- Cow Head
- Crow Head
- faned
- fled
- freedom bread
- fugged
- ked
- knead
- misled
- ned
- pled
- read
Questions about instead
- What does instead mean?
- Instead means in the place of something (usually mentioned earlier); as a substitute or alternative.
- What is instead in Hindi?
- Instead in Hindi is के बजाय (ke bajāy). See Instead meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is instead?
- Instead is an adverb.
- How do you pronounce instead?
- Instead is pronounced /ɪnˈstɛd/ (UK).
Words near instead in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: instead (page history and authors); instead (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); بجائے (Urdu) (page history and authors); instead (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); instead (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ପରିବର୍ତ୍ତେ (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-instead.ogg.
Cite this entry: “instead.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/instead. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.