advantage
Americannoun
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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)
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
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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:
Over many generations, the eyes gradually disappeared because they offered little advantage.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
She said the trace of Ligandrol would have provided her with no performance advantage.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
For Ferguson, the big advantage of CCAs is to "achieve missions that would be too high risk with normal human life at the stake".
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
The company’s first-mover advantage in quantum computing could, he believes, boost its fortunes the way being a first mover in GPUs did for Nvidia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
She was taking advantage of Charlotte’s one great weakness.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
Grim though it sounds, grief can bring electoral advantages.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
Researchers suggest that such exposure could offer nutritional advantages or other benefits, including possible immune regulation.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026
Despite trailing the U.S. on the technological front, China has developed competitive advantages in the layers of energy, infrastructure and application of the AI ecosystem, says the China equities head and portfolio manager.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Panama announced on Monday an agreement with China to renew a maritime shipping treaty that grants advantages to Panamanian ships in Chinese ports.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
To these advantages of Africa’s enormous head start were added those of highly diverse climates and habitats and of the world’s highest human diversity.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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
“Cava continues to be an economically advantaged business model with high-potential for full national penetration,” wrote Ivankoe, noting that while near-term results are difficult to predict, the outlook is better than previously anticipated.
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
Still, the analysts continue to view Coupang as structurally advantaged in the local e-commerce market, citing limited direct competition from rivals and the high costs of customers switching to other online retailers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
Still, the idea is that they are “more advantaged than some, less advantaged than others,” Trench said on the show, and still “have a realistic shot” at financial freedom by age 30.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2025
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
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.
