Literary notes about supplant (AI summary)
In literature, supplant is often used to denote the act of displacing or overtaking an established entity, whether it be in personal rivalry, political power, or natural evolution. Authors deploy the term to illustrate ambitions and transitions, as when a character seeks to supplant a rival to gain favor or authority [1] or when political intrigue involves one figure attempting to supplant another [2]. The word also captures broader societal or natural shifts, such as the replacement of traditional customs by modern ideas [3] or the process by which dominant species supplant their weaker competitors [4]. In each case, supplant conveys not merely a change but a forceful, often contentious, transition from one status to another.
- “I would triumph over her, and supplant my rival.”
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Morton opens his case with the assumption that the Duke of Gloucester had always intended to supplant his nephew.
— from Richard III: His Life & Character, Reviewed in the Light of Recent Research by Markham, Clements R. (Clements Robert), Sir - True physics and true history must always tend, in enlightened minds, to supplant those misinterpreted religious traditions.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - One species of charlock has been known to supplant another species; and so in other cases.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin
