/ri plays"meuhnt/ , n.
1. the act of replacing.
2. a person or thing that replaces another: summer replacements for vacationing staff; a replacement for a broken dish.
3. Mil. a sailor, soldier, or airman assigned to fill a vacancy in a military unit.
4. Also called metasomatism . Geol. the process of practically simultaneous removal and deposition by which a new mineral grows in the body of an old one.
[ 1780-90; REPLACE + -MENT ]