disadvantage
Americannoun
-
disadvantages
plural
-
absence or deprivation of advantage or equality.
- Synonyms:
- hindrance, inconvenience, drawback
-
the state or an instance of being in an unfavorable circumstance or condition.
to be at a disadvantage.
-
something that puts one in an unfavorable position or condition.
His bad temper is a disadvantage.
-
injury to interest, reputation, credit, profit, etc.; loss.
Your behavior is a disadvantage to your family's good name.
verb (used with object)
-
disadvantages,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disadvantaged,
past participle, past
-
disadvantaging
present participle
noun
-
an unfavourable circumstance, state of affairs, thing, person, etc
-
injury, loss, or detriment
-
an unfavourable condition or situation (esp in the phrase at a disadvantage )
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
disadvantagesimple
-
disadvantagessimple
-
have disadvantagedperfect
-
has disadvantagedperfect
-
am disadvantagingprogressive
-
are disadvantagingprogressive
-
is disadvantagingprogressive
-
have been disadvantagingperfect progressive
-
has been disadvantagingperfect progressive
Past
-
disadvantagedsimple
-
had disadvantagedperfect
-
was disadvantagingprogressive
-
were disadvantagingprogressive
-
had been disadvantagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disadvantage
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English disavauntage, from Anglo-French; Old French desavantage; equivalent to dis- 1 + advantage
Explanation
A piece of bad luck or a less favorable position is a disadvantage. If you are trying to run a fifty-yard dash in flip flops when everyone else has on running shoes, you'll be at a disadvantage. It's harder to be successful when you start with a disadvantage. One kind of disadvantage is being born into a poor family — it's a struggle for a child in poverty to do well in school, attend college, or end up with a well-paying job. A disadvantage is the opposite of an advantage, a lucky or favorable circumstance. At the root of both words is the Old French avant, "at the front."
Vocabulary lists containing disadvantage
STAAR Grade 6 Reading: Informational Text
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Lesson 1
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Week 5: New Technology
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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:
That has put the firm at a disadvantage to rivals that could pay top lawyers millions more, setting off a wave of departures that began with its star dealmaker Scott Barshay in 2016.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
Carney needs to "think hard about his next move," Fagan argued, and ensure any new countermeasures are chosen strategically while recognizing Canada "is always going to be at a disadvantage."
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
These associations remained after the researchers accounted for other factors that could have influenced the results, including childhood cognitive ability, education level and childhood disadvantage.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 2, 2026
Most people see renting as a disadvantage, Leung said, but “renting below our means allowed us to save a lot.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
Why did he deliberately turn everything to her disadvantage?
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
The 2025 study also notes the cost and lack of residual protection as important disadvantages of whole structure fumigation.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
"Despite tip-fatigue, I do not think tipping is going to be eliminated on widescale anytime soon because the economic disadvantages of eliminating tipping outweigh the advantages," says Lynn.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Are there tax advantages or disadvantages to leaving my assets directly to charities?
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026
But as the switch from OpenAI to Gemini illustrates, there are also disadvantages to its less-than-absolute commitment to AI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
McNamara bluntly listed the disadvantages: “risk of escalation, casualties will be high, and may be a long war without victory.”
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
Lyne, who went on to co-found venture-capital firm BBG, said there is still a sense that women building companies on their own are disadvantaged.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Much of her career was spent supporting children from disadvantaged backgrounds and encouraging them to believe in their own potential.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
He said: "It does nothing to address the chronic underfunding that has disadvantaged policing in Cleveland for years."
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
In Gamper's view, women should not be financially disadvantaged because of their anatomy or because they need cubicles for safety reasons, for example.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
Still, I continued to receive invitations to conferences to discuss the problems of the disadvantaged.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
A unit of SpaceX is suing Apple for disadvantaging its AI app, and the company is now prototyping its own smartphone-like AI device.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
He also argued that ranking applicants by SAT scores ends up disadvantaging high-achieving low-income, first-generation and underrepresented minorities.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
Ms Moore joins a growing list of headteachers who have spoken out about how school budgets are disadvantaging pupils from low income households.
From BBC ● Jan. 10, 2024
Also, many state guidelines were designed decades ago to benefit victims who would make the best witnesses, disadvantaging people with criminal histories, among others.
From Seattle Times ● May 17, 2023
Under the planned British law, the CMA will be able to tailor rules for tech companies that meet it threshold to stop them unfairly disadvantaging smaller businesses and consumers.
From Reuters ● Apr. 24, 2023
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.
