advancement
Americannoun
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advancements
plural
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the act or process of moving forward.
They hoped that destroying bridges around the metropolis would slow the advancement of enemy troops.
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promotion in rank or standing; preferment.
She had high hopes for advancement in the company.
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development toward increased understanding, quality, utility, or benefit to human welfare in a consequential area of knowledge, technology, or practice.
She toiled in the lab out of personal ambition, not for the advancement of medical science.
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an achievement or result contributing to progress in a consequential area of knowledge, technology, or practice.
Advancements in robotics will transform industry.
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Law. money or property given by one person during their lifetime to another that is considered an anticipation of an inheritance and is therefore to be deducted from any share that the recipient may have in a donor's estate.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of advancement
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English avauncement, from Anglo-French, Old French avancement; see advance, -ment
Explanation
Use the noun advancement when you talk about something's growth or progress. The advancement of modern medicine has lengthened many people's lives. You might describe a society's advancement as a result of new industries and an improved economy. You could also cheer your best friend's advancement in her French class, being moved to a higher level because of her hard work. When you advance, you move forward — either literally or figuratively. Advancement comes from this idea of moving in a positive direction and its Old French root word avancier, "move forward," from the Late Latin abante, "in front."
Vocabulary lists containing advancement
The Mayflower Compact (1620)
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"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 9
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Lesson 6
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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:
“We believe this represents an important advancement toward a more objective, data-informed model of mental healthcare.”
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026
Mallat also noted mathematicians are needed for teaching, although the rapid advancement of AI will impact this area too.
From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2026
The rapid advancement of AI has upended countless assumptions about what tasks are best performed by people.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
But here’s your daily reminder that humans are primates whose still-evolving brains are exponentially outpaced by technological advancement.
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2026
I liked the rapid advancement class, also called SP.
From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers
Other problems arise from overeager attempts to portray Philadelphia as the birthplace of various advancements while ignoring other places’ possible claims.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
By the ‘40s and ‘50s, the postwar home and its many accouterments — powered by wartime advancements, growing abundance and an ethos of “buy now, pay later” — amplified the promise.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson has been a proponent of fostering American AI advancements and says he worries that new regulations would create legal barriers that only the biggest tech companies could absorb.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
He later told the BBC the people working on the technology were "genuinely frightened" about the speed of its advancements and what it could mean for humanity.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
“A seemingly impossible dream,” Marla’s voice says, “only if you haven’t seen the latest advancements in running prostheses.”
From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
