: someone or something that fills in
She performed well as the emergency fill-in.
filled in; filling in; fills in
1
: to enrich (something, such as a design) with detail
2
: to give necessary or recently acquired information to
I'll fill you in
: to fill a vacancy usually temporarily
Interns filled in for regular staffers.
Examples of fill-in in a Sentence
Noun
I'm just a fill-in, so I have no idea where office supplies are kept
Verb
my friend quickly filled me in on the portion of the movie that I had missed
she's only filling in while the regular secretary is on vacation
Recent Examples on the Web
Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 6 Mar. 2026
Smith has spent the past two seasons as the club’s go-to fill-in man but is now the lead candidate to replace Gold Glove-winner Marcus Semien at second base despite relative inexperience at the position.
—Shawn McFarland, Dallas Morning News, 27 Feb. 2026
Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 7 Mar. 2026
Today alum Hoda Kotb and Sheinelle Jones have mostly filled in for Guthrie aside her co-anchor Craig Melvin.
—Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 6 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for fill-in
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Noun
Heat backup center Kel’el Ware proved to be an effective fill-in for Adebayo on Thursday, stuffing the box score with 16 points, 11 rebounds, five steals and seven blocks in 32 minutes in the win.
—Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 6 Mar. 2026
Smith has spent the past two seasons as the club’s go-to fill-in man but is now the lead candidate to replace Gold Glove-winner Marcus Semien at second base despite relative inexperience at the position.
—Shawn McFarland, Dallas Morning News, 27 Feb. 2026
Verb
One of them could have the chance to fill in on one of the top two lines while Artturi Lehkonen is out with an injury.
—Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 7 Mar. 2026
Today alum Hoda Kotb and Sheinelle Jones have mostly filled in for Guthrie aside her co-anchor Craig Melvin.
—Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 6 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for fill-in
Cite this Entry
“Fill-in.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fill-in. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.
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