advancement

[ad-vans-muhnt, -vahns-]

noun

1. the act or process of moving forward.

   They hoped that destroying bridges around the metropolis would slow the advancement of enemy troops.

2. promotion in rank or standing; preferment.

   She had high hopes for advancement in the company.

3. 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.

4. an achievement or result contributing to progress in a consequential area of knowledge, technology, or practice.

   Advancements in robotics will transform industry.

5. 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.

advancement

/ ədˈvɑːnsmənt /

noun

1. promotion in rank, status, etc; preferment

2. a less common word for advance advance

3. property law the use during a testator's lifetime of money or property for the benefit of a child or other person who is a prospective beneficiary in the testator's will

Other Word Forms

• nonadvancement noun
• self-advancement noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of advancement¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English avauncement, from Anglo-French, Old French avancement; advance, -ment

Example Sentences

Here are nine technological advancements that helped turn investing from a private club of two dozen into something of a national pastime.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

The irony is that failing to understand those reasons has needlessly disrupted the advancement of millions of low-income people in the name of helping them.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

What advancements in medicine or physiology are you following?

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Despite successes and medical advancements, immunization rates have been on the decline in the face of increasingly partisan views on vaccine requirements, according to KFF, a nonprofit that focuses on health policy research.

Read more on Salon

And continued advancements in medicine and technology mean transplanted organs are lasting far longer once in people.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• advance 
• growth 
• improvement 
• upgrading www.thesaurus.com