To displace is to move something or someone from their usual or proper place. It can refer to objects being shifted or people being forced to leave their homes.
From 'dis-' meaning 'away' and 'place', from Old French 'placer' and Latin 'platea' meaning 'open space'. It literally means 'to put out of place'.
When you push your hand into water and it rises, you’ve just displaced water—that’s the same verb used for people pushed out of their homes. The physics word and the human tragedy share the same root idea: something forced out of its spot.
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