Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Instead

Instead , adverb

[Prefix in- + stead place.]

1.
In the place or room; -- usually followed by of.
Let thistles grow of wheat. — Job xxxi. 40
Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab. — 2 Sam. xvii. 25
2.
Equivalent; equal to; -- usually with of. [Rare]
This very consideration to a wise man is instead of a thousand arguments, to satisfy him, that in those times no such thing was believed. — Tillotson