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
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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
Academic Vocabulary Toolkit 1, Words 1-10
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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:
Such transfers have helped give independent refiners “a significant procurement cost advantage, which has also been a core means of survival for the industry for many years,” the article said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Arsenal took the lead after just 23 seconds, doubled their advantage thanks to some static City defending in the 23rd minute, and then added a third three minutes into the second half.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
He was primarily a linebacker to take advantage of his athleticism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
With multiple platforms boasting over 1 billion users, Google’s advantage comes from being able to easily distribute its Gemini models.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
Traynor was trying to "take advantage of all the opportunities to advance trust" with Dasch, so he would reveal important details.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
Climate change has had some advantages for Germany's winegrowers over the years, allowing them to experiment with grape varieties better suited to warmer climes and making cultivation possible in new areas.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
It’s also true, however, that the tax advantages of defined contribution plans tend to skew toward wealthier households.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
This has given the group tax and regulatory advantages, and allows it to carry out charitable activities, but experts say that its dual non-profit and commercial objectives have sometimes led to governance issues.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Young-Bruehl, who studied philosophy under Arendt, possessed the advantages of discipleship and living memory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Knowing how fencing had saved him from a life of dead ends, he decided he wanted to help other young kids without a lot of advantages.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
“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
“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
LA28 chief Allison Katz-Mayfield called the random ticket-drawing process "the fairest way to ensure that the broadest number of people can get access to tickets and that no one is advantaged or disadvantaged".
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 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
I wanted students more aware of their differences from persons less advantaged.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
“We urgently need a smart export-control strategy that applies robust export controls to deny our adversaries access to advanced technology, while advantaging U.S. companies,” McGuire wrote.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 13, 2026
The administration wants to gain visibility into frontier capabilities without slowing American labs and advantaging China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
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 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.
