advantage
Americannoun
-
advantages
plural
-
any state, circumstance, opportunity, or means specially favorable to success, interest, or any desired end.
the advantage of a good education.
-
benefit; gain; profit.
It will be to his advantage to learn Chinese before going to China.
-
superiority or ascendancy (often followed by over orof ).
His height gave him an advantage over his opponent.
-
a position of superiority (often followed by over orof ).
their advantage in experienced players.
-
Tennis. the first point scored after deuce.
verb (used with object)
-
advantages,
present (3rd person singular)
-
advantaged,
past participle, past
-
advantaging
present participle
idioms
-
to advantage, to good effect; advantageously.
The paintings were arranged to advantage on one wall.
-
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.
-
take advantage of,
-
to make use of for gain.
to take advantage of an opportunity.
-
to impose upon, especially unfairly, as by exploiting a weakness.
to take advantage of someone.
-
noun
-
superior or more favourable position or power
he had an advantage over me because of his experience
-
benefit or profit (esp in the phrase to one's advantage )
-
tennis
-
the point scored after deuce
-
the resulting state of the score
-
-
-
to make good use of
-
to impose upon the weakness, good nature, etc, of; abuse
-
to seduce
-
-
to good effect
he used his height to advantage at the game
-
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
-
advantagesimple
-
advantagessimple
-
have advantagedperfect
-
has advantagedperfect
-
am advantagingprogressive
-
are advantagingprogressive
-
is advantagingprogressive
-
have been advantagingperfect progressive
-
has been advantagingperfect progressive
Past
-
advantagedsimple
-
had advantagedperfect
-
was advantagingprogressive
-
were advantagingprogressive
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"Harrison Bergeron"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
A couple of months ago, I applied for a store credit card to take advantage of a 40% discount the retailer was offering to anyone who applied.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
Gentoo penguins have one important advantage over many of their relatives: they are flexible eaters.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
Arsenal's stunning loss on the south coast opened the door for City and they took full advantage.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
It’s worth noting the Trailseeker’s price point and equipment list represent a $5,000 advantage over the bZ Woodland.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
With all of that bad luck talk, Daisy saw that she had me worried and she took advantage of it.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Postdoc Kunyang Sui, who developed the mAxialtrode concept together with Associate Professor Christos Markos, says one of the main advantages is that several capabilities can be combined within a single implant.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026
China offers competitive advantages in drug development: Its trial sites recruit patients faster, helped by a unified state health system, high patient density near major hospitals and digital recruitment tools, experts say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
If objectivity is the initiative, then both viewpoints must have their advantages and follies fully rendered.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
The tax code provides some advantages to homeowners, and a mortgage allows buyers to own a large asset with a relatively small initial investment.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
“Ideology,” then, had provided Jefferson with a politically attractive pro-French platform, which had turned out to have enormous rhetorical advantages no matter how wrong it proved in reality.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said current tests and assessments in schools "set many students up to fail, overwhelmingly those from less advantaged backgrounds".
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
Waste Management is the most strategically advantaged company in North American waste disposal.
From Barron's ● Jan. 16, 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
“Increased emphasis on these elements, we found, has the effect of advantaging the advantaged.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 22, 2024
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
But, surprisingly enough, she proved of two minds about advantaging herself of the opportunity.
From Nobody by W. L. Jacobs
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.
