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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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:
Simhony creates at least one fully AI-generated promotional TikTok post every day, often taking advantage of brief periods when her son is napping, she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
You can also save some for a bucket-list trip, but at least you’re taking advantage of some rewards in the moment.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
That is “a structural advantage that RRL simply could not replicate, making a value-accretive counter difficult to construct,” Whelan says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
“It’s clear to me that teams are managing their pitching in a way to take advantage of the Sunday pitcher rule,” Manfred said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
But at night, believe it or not, this was actually an advantage.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
UC had carefully laid out the road map: One work group would have investigated “the advantages and disadvantages” of relying on SAT and ACT scores and California’s 11th-grade Smarter Balanced assessment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
One of the biggest advantages of the technique is that the bubbles disappear completely as the droplet dries, leaving behind no residue.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
Let’s start with the potential advantages of waiting to claim.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
Around 2.2 billion people worldwide were offline in 2025, according to data from the International Telecommunications Union, which has been leading efforts to expand access to the advantages of digitalisation.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
Zeitoun thinks of the simple greatness of the canoe, of the advantages of moving quietly, of listening carefully.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
"The size of the gap between the educational outcomes of children from more and less advantaged backgrounds is a scourge on our society," Julie McCulloch, chief executive of the EPI said.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Canada is geographically advantaged to sell to Asia.
From Barron's ● Mar. 24, 2026
“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
The Spring, Texas, company said its advantaged assets are central to its new guidance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 9, 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
“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
“Increased emphasis on these elements, we found, has the effect of advantaging the advantaged.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 22, 2024
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
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.
