Meanings
present singular third person avails · participle present availing · participle past availed · past availed
- oftenreflexivetransitiveTo turn to the advantage of.
I availed myself of the opportunity.
1 more example
It asserts that the museum has clear protocols for dealing with any form of discrimination or discontent, which it says [Tanya] Barson never availed herself of, […]
2021 July 25, Stephen Burgen, “Departures at high-profile Barcelona museum provoke anger in art world”, in The Observer, →ISSN - intransitiveTo be of use or advantage; to answer or serve the purpose; to have strength, force, or efficacy sufficient to accomplish the object.
This scheme will not avail.
5 more examples
The plea in court must avail.
Medicines will not avail to halt the disease.
All of this avail’d not, for whoe’er he be That tells my faults, I hate him mortally; […]
1713, Alexander Pope, The Wife of Bath Her Prologue, translation of original by Geoffrey ChaucerWords avail very little with me, young man.
1817, Sir Walter Scott, Rob RoyAll day long to Mung cry out the Priests of Mung, and yet Mung harkeneth not. What, then, shall avail the prayers of All the People?
1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 21 - AfricaIndiaelsewhere proscribedTo provide; to make available.
With this initiative, Valucard becomes an open system that is not limited to point of sale (POS) transactions, but now avails cash to its holders in various locations nationwide.
2004 November 16, Nik Ogbulie, “Decongesting the Banking Floors”, in This Day, archived from the original on 22 Jan 2009 - AfricaIndiaelsewhere proscribedTo use or take advantage of (an opportunity or resource).
You can avail discounts on food.
1 more example
Over 85.3% of all persons who have adopted this method of contraception availed this service from government facilities.
2014, Shilpa Vishwas Date, Jyoti Rokade, Vidya Mule, Shreedher Dandapannavar, “Female sterilization failure: Review over a decade and its clinicopathological correlation”, in International Journal of Applied and Basic Medical Research, number 4(2), →DOI, pages 81–85
plural avails
- countableuncountableEffect in achieving a goal or aim; purpose, use (now usually in negative constructions).First known use 15th c.
to no avail
without success
5 more examples
I tried fixing it to no avail.
Labor, without economy, is of little avail.
Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 071At half-time, Poyet replaced Wes Brown with Liam Bridcutt in the heart of defence and sent out the rest of the players to atone for their first-half mistakes. To no avail.
2014 October 18, Paul Doyle, “Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter”, in The GuardianThe announcement was made in Leeds - the largest city in Europe without a mass transit system. It's also a city which has been doggedly pressing (to little avail) for an integrated transport system for two decades.
2024 December 11, Richard Wilcock, “Strategy offers a chance to reset local transport planning”, in RAIL, number 1024, page 10 - countableuncountableadvertisingAn advertising slot or package.
At an avail, the ad server plays out the MPEG-2 audio/video elementary streams.
2004, Walter S. Ciciora et al., Modern Cable Television Technology: Video, Voice, and Data Communications, →ISBN, page 1231 more example
The salesperson at an affiliate TV station might prepare an avail which offers two weeks of spots in early and late news[…].
1994, Barry L. Sherman, Telecommunications Management: Broadcasting/cable and the New Technologies, →ISBN, page 353 - UScountableuncountablegovernmentA press avail.
While holding an avail yesterday, the candidate lashed out at critics.
- UKcountableuncountableactingNon-binding notice of availability for work.
- countableobsoleteuncountableBenefit; value, profit; advantage toward success.First known use 15th–19th c.
hardy Citizens[…]sticke not to sacrifice their honours and consciences, as those of old, their lives, for their Countries availe and safety.
1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 1, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book III, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC2 more examples
I shal take the aduenture sayd Balen that god wille ordeyne me / but the swerd ye shalle not haue at this tyme by the feythe of my body / ye shalle repente hit within short tyme sayd the damoysel/ For I wold haue the swerd more for your auaylle than for myne / for I am passyng heuy for your sake
1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “ij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book IISo this friar, unworthy as he was of his holy calling, had me at an avail on every side, nor do I yet see what I could do but obey him, as I did.
1895, Andrew Lang, A Monk of Fife - countableobsoletepoeticuncountableEffort; striving.
And ev'n now, though he breathless lies, his sails / Are struggling with the winds, for our avails / T'explore a passage hid from human tract, / Will fame him in the enterprise or fact.
1613, Thomas Campion, “Songs of Mourning”, in Poetical Works (in English) of Thomas Campion, published 1907, page 125
comparative more avail · superlative most avail
- abbreviationclippingcolloquialClipping of available.
In another incident, Henry allegedly sent Areu a video titled "Fastest interview" in which a woman flashes her vagina to a man during a job interview and then immediately receives a job offer. Henry allegedly followed up the video by texting Areu, "Are you avail for anchor interview."
2020 July 20, Salvador Hernandez, “Former Fox News Anchor Ed Henry Has Been Accused Of Rape And Sexual Harassment In A New Lawsuit”, in BuzzFeed News, archived from the original on 16 Jul 20232 more examples
Bravoholic NYC resident Trace Bechter, who attended the sentencing, disagreed with Stein's understanding of Housewives as purely scripted entertainment. "I thought, that can't be true, because if this current season of RHOSLC was written, we need completely new scriptwriters." (Bravo, I'm avail.)
2023 January 9, Sarah Galli, “Jen Shah's Prison Sentencing Was Like Another BravoCon—And Housewives Fans Are Conflicted”, in The Daily Beast, archived from the original on 31 Mar 2023“Dude, you're not gonna believe this! Your ex-girlfriend Debbie broke up with the math teacher!” “Poor Mr. Kronauer! Right after his back surgery. He must be devastated.” “Steve, you're missing the point! Debbie is avail.” “Do you really think I have a shot?” “Well, the reason she broke up with Mr. K was because he didn't have a pool.” “I have a pool!” “That's what I've been saying the whole time!”
2026 February 22, Matt Weitzman, “Aw Rats, A Pool Party” (3:27 from the start), in American Dad!, season 22, episode 1, spoken by Snot Lonstein (Curtis Armstrong)Antonyms: unavail
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Frencha“to”
- Middle Englishavailen“to be of use”
- Englishavail
From Middle English availen (“to be of use”), from Old French a (“to”) + vail from valoir (“to be worth”), from Latin valere (“to be worthy, strong”).
More words from Middle English, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian помагам, подпомагам
- помагам (pomagam)to turn to the advantage of
- подпомагам (podpomagam)to turn to the advantage of
- от полза съм (ot polza săm)to turn to the advantage of
- служа (služa)to be of service to
- послужа (posluža)to be of service to
- допринасям (doprinasjam)to be of service to
- допринеса (doprinesa)to be of service to
- помагам (pomagam)to promote; to assist
- помогна (pomogna)to promote; to assist
- подпомагам (podpomagam)to promote; to assist
- подпомогна (podpomogna)to promote; to assist
- от полза съм (ot polza săm)to be of use (intransitive)
- печалба (pečalba)proceeds
- средства (sredstva)proceeds
- полза (polza)benefit; value, profit; advantage toward success
- облага (oblaga)benefit; value, profit; advantage toward success
Catalan prevaler-se, aprofitar-se
- prevaler-seto turn to the advantage of
- aprofitar-seto turn to the advantage of
Dutch profiteren, grijpen
- profiterento turn to the advantage of
- grijpento turn to the advantage of
- dienento be of service to
- bevorderento promote; to assist
- batento be of use (intransitive)
- nuttig zijnto be of use (intransitive)
Esperanto utiligi
- utiligito turn to the advantage of
Finnish hyödyntää, käyttää hyväkseen
- hyödyntääto turn to the advantage of
- käyttää hyväkseento turn to the advantage of
- hyödyttääto be of service to
- auttaato be of service to
- edistääto promote; to assist
- onnistuato be of use (intransitive)
- hyödyttääto be of use (intransitive)
- tulotproceeds
- tuottoproceeds
- hyötybenefit; value, profit; advantage toward success
French profiter, saisir
- profiterto turn to the advantage of
- saisirto turn to the advantage of
- servirto be of service to
German ausnutzen, helfen
- ausnutzento turn to the advantage of
- helfento be of service to
- nützento be of service to
- Erfolgbenefit; value, profit; advantage toward success
Italian avvalersi
- avvalersito turn to the advantage of
Norwegian nytte
- nyttebenefit; value, profit; advantage toward success
Persian فایده
- فایده (fâyede)benefit; value, profit; advantage toward success
Polish korzystać, skorzystać
- korzystaćto turn to the advantage of
- skorzystaćto turn to the advantage of
- przydawać sięto be of service to
- przydać sięto be of service to
- pomagaćto promote; to assist
- pomócto promote; to assist
- przydawać sięto be of use (intransitive)
- przydać sięto be of use (intransitive)
- dochódproceeds
- przychódproceeds
- zyskproceeds
- wpływyproceeds
- korzyśćbenefit; value, profit; advantage toward success
- pożytekbenefit; value, profit; advantage toward success
Portuguese valer-se, aproveitar
- valer-seto turn to the advantage of
- aproveitarto turn to the advantage of
- adiantarto be of service to
- servirto be of service to
- valerto be of service to
- adiantarto be of use (intransitive)
- valiabenefit; value, profit; advantage toward success
Russian воспо́льзоваться, испо́льзовать
- воспо́льзоваться (vospólʹzovatʹsja)to turn to the advantage of
- испо́льзовать (ispólʹzovatʹ)to turn to the advantage of
- помога́ть (pomogátʹ)to be of service to
- помо́чь (pomóčʹ)to be of service to
- приноси́ть по́льзу (prinosítʹ pólʹzu)to be of service to
- соде́йствовать (sodéjstvovatʹ)to promote; to assist
- быть поле́зным (bytʹ poléznym)to be of use (intransitive)
Spanish aprovechar, servir
- aprovecharto turn to the advantage of
- servirto be of service to
Swedish nyttja, duga
- nyttjato turn to the advantage of
- dugato be of use (intransitive)
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with avail
Anagrams
Cite this entry
avail. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/avail
“avail.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/avail. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “avail,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/avail.
Source: avail on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.