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 could put farmers and ranchers at a disadvantage.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026
When we lose a bunch of key leaders, folks who have dealt with these sorts of things over and over and over again, does that put us at a disadvantage?
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026
Former England striker Chris Sutton disagreed, saying there is "no clear way" to measure whether the physical demands of the Premier League are a disadvantage at major tournaments.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Blume said Monday that the company had a 20% cost disadvantage to its peers in the administration, infrastructure and other functions that support its core operations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
In this case he was at a serious disadvantage, as he had no clue how big-time money managers dressed.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
It said the school leaned on how applicants answered “hardship” questions — which ask students how they overcame disadvantages — as a proxy for race.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Critics argue that it disadvantages Wales and the English regions by channelling investment to the south east of England.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
Those disadvantages can ultimately affect both physical and mental health.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 14, 2026
But it has scale, funding cost and technology disadvantages compared with the major banks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
There were also several distinct disadvantages: I had no food, no water, no place to relieve myself, and no bed to sleep in.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
Telecoms companies in South Africa, including those with foreign investment, are required to provide 30 percent equity to historically disadvantaged groups -- a policy created to mitigate the legacy of racial inequality left by apartheid.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
For its measure of who counts as disadvantaged, the EPI looked at the educational outcomes of children who had ever been eligible for free school meals, compared with those who had not.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
“And insiders, who are trading in their own stock all the time, will have the information. This takes an already-unlevel playing field where Main Street investors are already disadvantaged, and makes it more unlevel.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Women are also disadvantaged at the beginning of their careers, the report says.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 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
Greer accused Brazil of disadvantaging American exports by offering lower tariffs to other trade partners.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2025
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
Like the others, the White House version suggests numerous practices that developers and users of AI software should voluntarily follow to prevent the technology from unfairly disadvantaging people.
From Reuters ● Oct. 4, 2022
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.
