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displacement

American  
[dis-pleys-muhnt] / dɪsˈpleɪs mənt /

noun

  1. the act of displacing.

  2. the state of being displaced or the amount or degree to which something is displaced.

  3. Psychology, Psychoanalysis. the transfer of an emotion from its original focus to another object, person, or situation.

  4. Physics.

    1. the displacing in space of one mass by another.

    2. the weight or the volume of fluid displaced by a floating or submerged body.

    3. the linear or angular distance in a given direction between a body or point and a reference position.

    4. the distance of an oscillating body from its central position or point of equilibrium at any given moment.

  5. Machinery, Automotive.

    1. the volume of the space through which a piston travels during a single stroke in an engine, pump, or the like.

    2. the total volume of the space traversed by all the pistons.

  6. Nautical. the amount of water that a vessel displaces, expressed in displacement tons.

  7. Geology. the offset of rocks caused by movement along a fault.

  8. electric displacement.


displacement British  
/ dɪsˈpleɪsmənt /

noun

  1. the act of displacing or the condition of being displaced

  2. the weight or volume displaced by a floating or submerged body in a fluid

  3. chem another name for substitution

  4. the volume displaced by the piston of a reciprocating pump or engine

  5. psychoanal the transferring of emotional feelings from their original object to one that disguises their real nature

  6. geology the distance any point on one side of a fault plane has moved in relation to a corresponding point on the opposite side

  7. astronomy an apparent change in position of a body, such as a star

  8.  smaths the distance measured in a particular direction from a reference point

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

displacement Scientific  
/ dĭs-plāsmənt /
  1. Chemistry A chemical reaction in which an atom, radical, or molecule replaces another in a compound.

  2. Physics A vector, or the magnitude of a vector, that points from an initial position (of a body or reference frame) to a subsequent position.

  3. The weight or volume of a fluid displaced by a floating body, used especially as a measurement of the weight or bulk of ships.

  4. The volume displaced by a single stroke of a piston in an engine or pump.

  5. Geology

    1. The relative movement between the two sides of a geologic fault.

    2. The distance between the two sides of a fault.


Other Word Forms

  • predisplacement noun

Etymology

Origin of displacement

First recorded in 1605–15; displace + -ment

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"We were shocked and we quickly packed and woke up the kids and got in the car. Now we're stuck on blocked roads because of the massive displacement from the south."

From BBC

Between 2017 and 2020 I published several essays and a memoir about my mother’s imprisonment and our escape from the Islamic Republic, and the displacement that followed.

From The Wall Street Journal

He is deeply worried about “labor displacement” but overall concludes it’s just too early to say whether AI is “a fad or an illusion.”

From MarketWatch

He is deeply worried about “labor displacement” but overall, concludes it’s just too early to say whether AI is “a fad or an illusion”.

From MarketWatch

This, Bessen notes, is in line with previous technological advances that drive prices down and demand up enough to offset direct job displacement.

From The Wall Street Journal