Instead

How to spell instead

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce instead

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does instead mean?

1. adverbAs an alternative or substitute; in place of something else previously mentioned.

Instead in a sentence

• The lift was broken, so she took the stairs instead.

• He skipped the coffee and ordered tea instead.

Where does instead come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word grew out of the phrase 'in stead', meaning literally 'in the place (of)', which English writers used from the 1300s before it fused into a single word around the 1500s. The key piece is 'stead', from the Old English stede, meaning a place, position, or standing spot; the same root survives in 'homestead', 'farmstead', and the phrase 'stand someone in good stead'. That sense of one thing standing in the place of another is exactly the meaning that powers modern 'instead'. The 'stead' element is also a cousin of German 'Statt' (place) and ultimately ties back to the same ancestral root that gives us 'stand' and 'station'. Knowing that 'instead' hides the real word 'stead' is the best guard against the common slip of writing 'insted'.

How the word is built

• in (in)
• stead (from Old English stede: place, position)