advantage
Americannoun
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advantages
plural
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any state, circumstance, opportunity, or means specially favorable to success, interest, or any desired end.
the advantage of a good education.
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benefit; gain; profit.
It will be to his advantage to learn Chinese before going to China.
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superiority or ascendancy (often followed by over orof ).
His height gave him an advantage over his opponent.
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a position of superiority (often followed by over orof ).
their advantage in experienced players.
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Tennis. the first point scored after deuce.
verb (used with object)
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advantages,
present (3rd person singular)
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advantaged,
past participle, past
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advantaging
present participle
idioms
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to advantage, to good effect; advantageously.
The paintings were arranged to advantage on one wall.
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have the advantage of, to be in a superior or advantageous position; possess an advantage over.
By virtue of independent wealth, he has the advantage of his opponents.
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take advantage of,
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to make use of for gain.
to take advantage of an opportunity.
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to impose upon, especially unfairly, as by exploiting a weakness.
to take advantage of someone.
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noun
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superior or more favourable position or power
he had an advantage over me because of his experience
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benefit or profit (esp in the phrase to one's advantage )
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tennis
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the point scored after deuce
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the resulting state of the score
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-
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to make good use of
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to impose upon the weakness, good nature, etc, of; abuse
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to seduce
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to good effect
he used his height to advantage at the game
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you know me but I do not know you
Usage
What are other ways to say advantage? An advantage is something that positions one well for accomplishing something. How is advantage different from benefit and profit? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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advantagesimple
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advantagessimple
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have advantagedperfect
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has advantagedperfect
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am advantagingprogressive
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are advantagingprogressive
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is advantagingprogressive
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have been advantagingperfect progressive
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has been advantagingperfect progressive
Past
-
advantagedsimple
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had advantagedperfect
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was advantagingprogressive
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were advantagingprogressive
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had been advantagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of advantage
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English ava(u)ntage, from Anglo-French, Old French avantage, equivalent to avant “before” + -age noun suffix; see origin at advance, -age
Explanation
An advantage is like a head start in a race; it's that thing that gives you a better chance. The noun advantage also refers to a reward or benefit of some action or event. Being sick with the flu had the advantage of kick-starting your diet because you didn't feel like eating much. If you leverage the benefits, you are taking advantage of the situation. If you go on a business trip to Hawaii, you could take advantage of the opportunity and spend an extra day or two on vacation.
Vocabulary lists containing advantage
Academic Vocabulary Toolkit 1, Words 1-10
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"Harrison Bergeron"
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"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Trade-deadline acquisition Kris Bubic, who is rehabbing at the Dodgers’ Arizona complex, is taking advantage of the opportunity to be around the team this weekend at Chase Field.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
Beijing’s capacity for long-term planning and investment gives China an advantage when trying to take nascent technologies from the prototype stage to the scale required to dominate global markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
They were the days when kids went to their neighborhood schools, and Marsh took advantage with a run-oriented offense that left defenses unable to stop the Tigers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
"My Administration has guarded against the risks posed by malign foreign actors who attempt to swindle American citizens by taking advantage of the generosity of our Nation," the first executive order says.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Good soldier, I thought, taking advantage of the element of surprise.
From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen
By moving or functioning in groups, sperm may gain advantages in mobility, organization or overall performance.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
As AI competition intensifies, Taiwanese firms face the "challenge of having their core high-tech talent targeted and recruited by 'Chinese' companies, leading to the loss of their core competitive advantages," the statement said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
They might be "anti-fashion shoes" but they're "really comfy" and designed "orthopaedically" with footbed sandals like Birkenstocks offering the same advantages.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
One of Agile Robots’ biggest advantages is the relationships with major manufacturers enjoyed by some of the companies it has acquired.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
If arrested, they could lose their teaching positions and their hard-earned advantages of security and respect.
From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman
"The market environment was clearly supportive. But market conditions alone do not explain results," said the company, which also touted "reliable operations, optimization in advantaged assets and high-value products across our businesses."
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
"The size of the gap between the educational outcomes of children from more and less advantaged backgrounds is a scourge on our society," Julie McCulloch, chief executive of the EPI said.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Counterintuitively, Ross said, smaller independent grocers are actually advantaged in the short term, as smaller stores tend to play in more localized markets than their major chain competitors.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026
“Sun Belt states are experiencing markets with the most advantaged buyers, while markets in the Northeast and Midwest frequently remain advantaged toward sellers.”
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 12, 2026
I wanted students more aware of their differences from persons less advantaged.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
The administration wants to gain visibility into frontier capabilities without slowing American labs and advantaging China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
“Past tech revolutions have tended to bypass older workers because they haven’t necessarily built those tech skills. But we’re finding that AI is advantaging those who have expertise.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2025
Further advantaging them might hamstring the promising open-source A.I. movement—a crucial area of competition—to the point of obsolescence.
From Slate ● Nov. 14, 2023
Smith agreed, pointing out laws advantaging employers at the expense of workers when it came to organizing into early forms of unions.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 14, 2019
But, surprisingly enough, she proved of two minds about advantaging herself of the opportunity.
From Nobody by Jacobs, W. L.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
