Synonyms for in place of include instead of, rather than, in lieu of, as an alternative for, as opposed to, in exchange for, in preference to, as a replacement for, as a substitute for and before. Find more similar words at wordhippo.com! Another word for instead. Find more ways to say instead, along with related words, antonyms and example phrases at Thesaurus.com, the world's most trusted free thesaurus.
Anne might not be the most celebrated Brontë, but she was on to something in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, in which the titular tenant notes that ‘there is always a 'but' in this imperfect world'.
The same is certainly true of academic writing, where the word ‘but' is an essential (though sometimes overused) term for constructing grammatical sentences, particularly when comparing two points.
With short words like ‘but', you shouldn't worry too much about repetition. Nevertheless, sometimes an alternative (like ‘nevertheless') can improve the flow of your prose, so herein we provide a few alternatives to the word ‘but' that you can use in your written work.
Conjunctions
- Instead of definition: 1. In place of someone or something: 2. In place of someone or something:.
- For Microsoft Word and Office aficionados, the best possible free online alternative for their document editing needs is definitely Word online, which comes as part of the Office Online suite. Although free MS Word web app is not a full-fledged version of its paid counterpart, it allows you to open, create and edit Word documents online.
- Think of all the ‘time' it saves when used in this manner. We use ‘that' unconsciously. It is one of the most overused words in the English language and often incorrectly. In your writing if using MS Word, put ‘that' into your search window and see how many times is shows up on the pages.
Conjunctions are words used to connect two parts of a sentence, such as ‘but', ‘and' and ‘because'. The term ‘but' connects two parts of a sentence while also setting up a contrast (e.g. ‘It was delicious, but the texture was awful'). In these cases, ‘but' can be substituted with one of the following:
- Although (e.g. ‘I love dancing, although my feet hurt afterwards.')
- Though (e.g. ‘I haven't slept in a week, though I hope tonight I can rest properly.')
- Yet (e.g. ‘It was terrible, yet I still want to go back and try again.')
Adverbials
As well as conjunctions, you can link and contrast two ideas with an adverb or an adverbial phrase. Perhaps the most commonly used is ‘however', so we will use this to illustrate how these words can substitute for ‘but'.
The key difference is that while conjunctions typically link two clauses in one sentence, adverbials like ‘however' set up a contrast between two separate sentences:
Advantages of catalina over mojave. Conjunction: I love dancing, but my feet hurt afterwards.
Adverbial: I love dancing. However, my feet hurt afterwards.
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As you can see, this can be handy when you want to begin a new sentence with a contrast. Animal crossing video. Having said this, the term ‘however' can also appear mid-sentence or after a semicolon:
It was terrible. I still, however, want to go back.
Android to icloud transfer. It was terrible; however, I still want to go back.
Other adverbials that can be used to replace ‘but' include:
Words Instead Of For Example
- Nonetheless (e.g. ‘I ran fast; nonetheless, the horse won the race.')
- Nevertheless (e.g. ‘It seemed like a mad idea. Nevertheless, it worked.')
- Despite this (e.g. ‘I prepared for the exam thoroughly. Despite this, I failed.')
- Having said that (e.g. ‘I will never drink again. Having said that, pass me a beer.')
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As a final point, one alternative to ‘but' you might see is ‘on the other hand'. Ideally, though, this should only be used when the initial point has been introduced with ‘On the one hand':
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On the one hand, I did break everything in your house. On the other hand, it was my birthday, so you should forgive me.
