exploit

plural exploits

1. A heroic or extraordinary deed.

   Hieronimo, it greatly pleaſeth vs, / That in our victorie thou haue a ſhare, / By vertue of thy vvorthy Sonnes exployt.

   c. 1587 (date written), [Thomas Kyd], The Spanish Tragedie: […] (Fourth Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for T[homas] Pauier, […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act I

2. An achievement.

   The first trek to the summit of Mount Everest was a stunning exploit.

3. computingA program or technique that takes advantage of a vulnerability in other software.

   For example, you can create PE files that are valid PDF exploits or valid ZIP files, valid JPG files, and so on.

   2015, Joxean Koret, Elias Bachaalany, The Antivirus Hacker's Handbook, page 148

   1 more example

   One of the more publicized cases that involved a zero-day exploit concerned the compromise of some U.S. military web servers. The attack involved exploiting a buffer overflow vulnerability in a core Windows component; […]

   2004, Rob Shein, Zero-Day Exploit: Countdown to Darkness, Syngress, →ISBN, page xxi

4. Internetbroadlyvideo gamesAn action or technique that takes advantage of the conditions of a video game to gain an advantage, or to disadvantage others.

present singular third person exploits · participle present exploiting · participle past exploited · past exploited

1. transitiveTo use (something) to someone's advantage, such as one's own benefit or a society's benefit.

   to exploit natural resources in a sustainable way

   2 more examples

   However, exploiting their 110mph capability will initially only be possible north of Bedford, pending an upgrade of the overhead wires between Bedford and St Pancras by Network Rail to make them suitable for use by electric trains at over 100mph.

   2019 October, Tony Miles, Philip Sherratt, “EMR kicks off new era”, in Modern Railways, page 53

   The protests have alarmed authorities, and on Thursday night, they shut off internet and mobile access in the country, cutting the Iranian people off from the rest of the world. Rights groups have accused the government of exploiting the media blackout to carry out a brutal crackdown against protesters.

   2026 January 13, Deepa Parent, William Christou, “Hundreds of gunshot eye injuries found in one Iranian hospital amid brutal crackdown on protests”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 24 Jan 2026

   Synonyms: take advantage of, use, utilize

2. transitiveTo make unfair use of someone else's labor, person, or property to one's own advantage.

   Materialistic people who exploit others will come to a bad end.