- advance
- advance vb 1 Advance, promote, forward, further all mean to move or put ahead, but they come into comparison chiefly when they imply help in moving or putting (something) ahead.Advance usually implies effective assistance, as in hastening a process{
the warm rains greatly advanced the spring crops
}or in bringing about a desired end{the pact should advance peace among nations
}or in exalting or elevating a person, especially in rank -or in power{Ahasuerus . . . advanced him . . . above all the princes— Esth 3:1
}The implication of moving ahead is dominant in promote when the word means to advance in grade or rank, especially in a predetermined order{promote a pupil to the next grade in school
}{promote a member of a college faculty from associate professor to full professor
}When the dominant implication is assistance, promote may suggest open backing or support{the objects for which a corporation is created are universally such as the government wishes to promote— John Marshall
}It may, especially when the subject names a person, his influence, or his acts, imply actual advance by encouraging or fostering{a sound forest economy promotes the prosperity of agriculture and rural life— Gustafson
}It may, when said of a thing such as a practice, a policy, a habit, imply subservience to an end that may not be intended{the habit of regarding the language of poetry as something dissociated from personal emotion . . . was promoted by the writing of Greek and Latin verse in school— Babbitt
}In one or two collocations forward implies not assistance but effective carrying out{forward a shipment by express
}{please forward all letters during my absence
}In its more common sense forward is often not clearly distinguishable from advance, except that it is seldom if ever used with reference to persons{Marie de Médicis had advanced Marillac by marrying him to one of her maids of honor . . . yet . . . she only forwarded the marriage because she wanted to do the girl a favor— Belloc
}Further, less than any other word in this group, implies movement ahead and, perhaps more than any other, emphasizes the assistance given, especially in the removing of obstacles, either to a person in an undertaking or to the project he undertakes{her sole object . . . was to further him, not as an artist but as a popular success— Brooks
}{bodies like the French Academy have such power for promoting it [genius], that the general advance of the human spirit is perhaps, on the whole, rather furthered than impeded by their existence— Arnold
}Antonyms: retard: check2 Advance, progress both as intransitive verbs and as nouns share the meaning to move (or movement) forward in space, in time, or in approach to a material or ideal objective. They are often employed interchangeably; however there are instances in which one is preferable to the other. Advance only may be used when a concrete instance is signified; though one may say that at a given time science made no advance (or progress), one must say that there were no advances (not progresses) in science at that time. Advance is preferable to progress when the context implies movement ahead such as that of an army marching to its objective, the distance traveled, or the rate of traveling{bullish sentiment regained fervor . . . and stock prices advanced sharply— N. Y. Times
}{there are some . . . who picture to themselves religion as retreating . . . before the victorious advance of science— Inge
}{boll weevil . . . may have existed in Mexico . . . for centuries . . . it advanced north and east at the rate of about 100 miles per year— Harlow
}Progress usually carries implications derived from earlier meanings of a process, a circuit, or a cycle, and so is preferable to advance when the movement forward involves these implications, as by suggesting a normal course, growth, or development{the trial is progressing
}{moon . . . begins . . . her rosy progress— Milton
}{[summer] oft, delighted, stops to trace the progress of the spiky blade— Burns
}Sometimes the word without losing these implications carries additional connotations and often stresses development through a series of steps or stages, each marking a definite change{it would be . . . a dull world that developed without break of continuity; it would surely be a mad world that progressed by leaps alone— Lowes
}{the progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality— T. S. Eliot
}Progress is the preferable word when development with improvement is implied{there was a general belief in inevitable and universal progress— Berger
}Analogous words: develop, *mature: *intensify, heightenAntonyms: recedeContrasted words: retreat, retrograde (see RECEDE):retire, withdraw (see GO)3 *adduce, allege, citeAnalogous words: *offer, present, proffer: propose (see corresponding noun at PROPOSAL): broach, *express, airadvance n 1 progress (see under ADVANCE vb 2)Analogous words: *development, evolution: improvement, betterment (see corresponding verbs at IMPROVE)Antonyms: recession, retrogressionContrasted words: retrograding, retreating (see RECEDE)2 *overture, approach, tender, bid
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
