La palabra del día: Suplir

Suplir is a verb often used in legal Spanish. It comes from the Latin supplēre, “to fill up, to make complete.” In law, it refers to providing, covering, or replacing something that is missing.

Typical uses include:

• Suplir un defecto de forma – to remedy a formal defect in a contract or procedure.
• Suplir la omisión de un requisito – to supply a missing legal requirement.
• El juez puede suplir la falta de capacidad procesal – the judge may cover for the lack of procedural capacity.

The central idea is that suplir allows the law, a judge, or even a party to fill in what is missing, so that a case or document can move forward.

The noun form is suplencia, meaning the act of substitution or replacement.

• Durante la suplencia del juez titular, actuó el suplente.

Related words:

• suplente – substitute, deputy, stand-in.
• suplidor – supplier (more common in Latin America for “proveedor”).

Have you come across suplir or suplencia in contracts or legal texts in Spanish? dc