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
-
the point scored after deuce
-
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
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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
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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:
Make these moves to take advantage of the latest AI reset.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
The SolarStratos plane made the landmark flight from Sion airport in southwest Switzerland on August 12 last year, taking advantage of warm air thermals to beat a 15-year-old record.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
The Dodgers had mostly returned to health by the postseason, when experience was expected to be an advantage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
This access could give the U.S. a military advantage that may be decisive in this technological age.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Fishermen want to be closer to their boats, builders want to take advantage of flat land near the shore, others just love the sea.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
These trials should help establish these drugs’ advantages when compared with existing therapies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
A material capable of addressing oxidative stress, inflammation, and bacteria could therefore offer several advantages in wound care.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
Your sister is taking care of your mom out of love, but she is understandably aware of the monetary advantages.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
He said among advantages is the absence of high buildings and homes looming "so you don't have ... people hiding behind windows".
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Being in the Mansion House held advantages for the Lees.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
“Our operations team demonstrated why they are the best in the business, putting us in an advantaged position to bring forward material value on our differentiated asset base.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 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
“If that isn’t a signal to grow production in an advantaged area like the Permian Basin, then I don’t know what is,” said CEO Kaes Van’t Hof on Diamondback’s earnings call early Tuesday.
From Barron's ● May 5, 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
We lived well, our days were mostly sunny, and I know that my parents were stoically undeceived by the objectively equivocal, contingent nature of the advantaged life they gave me and my siblings.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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
Three powers advantaging a Chieftain most Are Peace and Justice and an Armed Host.
From A Celtic Psaltery by Alfred Perceval Graves
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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.
