take advantage

present singular third person takes advantage · participle present taking advantage · past took advantage · participle past taken advantage

1. intransitiveTo profit from a situation deliberately.

   She took advantage of the economic crisis to exchange some money.

   1 more example

   The trip to Carrow Road was a chance for Harry Redknapp's side to take advantage after their two closest London rivals and leaders Manchester City failed to take maximum points from Premier League clashes in the last two days.

   2011 December 27, Mike Henson, “Norwich 0-2 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport

2. To make use of something.

   1 more example

   Nonetheless, some insect prey take advantage of clutter by hiding in it. Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.

   2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7