- advantage
- advantage 1 Advantage, handicap, allowance, odds, edge denote a factor or set of factors in a competition or rivalry giving one person or side a position of superiority over the other.Advantage is the general term, and implies superiority of any kind{
the adult, with trained powers, has an immense advantage over the child in the acquisition of information— Eliot
}A handicap is something, typically an artificial advantage, designed to equalize competition; thus, in golf, the handicap assigned a player is the difference between the average of a certain number of his best scores and par for the course; for instance, if the player’s best-score average is 75 and par is 72, his handicap is 3, and when he plays in a handicap match the player is allowed to deduct three strokes from his total score.An allowance is an advantageous handicap stated as a deduction of some sort.In horse racing an allowance is a deduction from the weight that the rules require a horse to carry, granted to a horse considered to be at a disadvantage.Odds usually implies a material advantage as in strength, numbers, or resources. It is often used of such an advantage possessed by the opposite side{managed to beat the odds against him— O’Leary
}{the peculiarly British quality . . . of sticking out against odds— Contemporary Review
}Advantage is often stated as a difference, odds as a ratio{one boxer has an advantage of ten pounds in weight
}{one army has odds of two to one over the other
}Odds may also denote an equalizing concession made to an inferior competitor; it then differs from handicap and allowance in that the concession is made by the superior competitor and not assigned by a third party{each side feels that it cannot allow any odds to the other— Bryce
}Edge may be an equivalent of advantage or odds but usually implies a slight but decisive superiority{here we have the edge on our rivals, not only because of our superior location, but also because we are reputedly reckless about reducing prices— Publishers’ Weekly
}Analogous words: preeminence, superlativeness (see corresponding adjectives at SUPREME): *supremacy, ascendancyAntonyms: disadvantage: handicap (in extended sense)Contrasted words: *obstacle, obstruction, impediment, bar2 *use, service, account, profit, availAnalogous words: improvement, betterment (see corresponding verbs at IMPROVE): enhancement, heightening (see corresponding verbs at INTENSIFY): benefit (see corresponding verb at BENEFIT)Antonyms: detrimentContrasted words: harm, hurt, damage, *injury
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.