take advantage of

verb

To use or make use of.

“She took advantage of his desperation.”

Similar
presume
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Meanings

verbtake advantage of (third-person singular simple present takes advantage of, present participle taking advantage of, simple past took advantage of, past participle taken advantage of)

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

  1. transitiveTo use or make use of.

    He took advantage of the swimming pool every day of his visit.

    1 more example

    But now this visit of my soft warm hand in those so sensible parts had put every thing into such ungovernable fury that, disdaining all further preluding, and taking advantage of my commodious posture, he made the storm fall where I scarce patiently expected, and where he was sure to lay it

    Fanny Hill

    1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC
  2. transitiveTo exploit.

    She took advantage of his desperation.

    4 more examples

    He toyed with her emotions just to get her in bed. He took advantage of her.

    Until two or three days before Carter's December 15 announcement, the State Department spokesman was still saying that no decisions had been reached on the timing and the modality for normalization of relations with Peking. Meanwhile, the administration had been keeping Congress, including its leadership, completely in the dark. Then, taking advantage of the Christmas holidays, during which no one was watching on Capitol Hill, Carter sprang his surprise.

    1983, James C. H. Shen, “Beginnings of Endings”, in Robert Myers, editor, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally, Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 18

    Confronted with the challenge of economic restructuring in the context of the noninterventionist policy of the Hong Kong government, local manufacturers had amore limited ability to pursue technological upgrading than their counterparts in Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore had. Their survival strategy was to take advantage of the new availability of the massive supply of cheap labor and cheap industrial land in South China.

    1998, Ching Kwan Lee, Gender and the South China Miracle, University of California Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, pages 45–46

    The World Cup runners-up were 2-0 down after 35 minutes when Lineth Beerensteyn punished defensive errors and took advantage of a passive midfield to score twice for the Netherlands.

    2023 December 1, Emma Sanders, “England 3-2 Netherlands”, in BBC Sport

    Synonyms: presume

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo exploit.

Similar
presume
Also see
employexploitgive someone the businessmake usetradeuse

Translations

Arabic اِسْتَغَلَّ
  • اِسْتَغَلَّ (istaḡalla)make use of
Catalan aprofitar, aprofitar-se
  • aprofitarmake use of
  • aprofitar-semake use of
  • aprofitar-seexploit
Chinese Mandarin 壓榨, 剝削 /剥削
  • 壓榨 (yāzhà)exploit
  • 剝削 /剥削 (bōxuē)exploit
Dutch gebruik maken van, voordeel trekken uit
  • gebruik maken vanmake use of
  • voordeel trekken uitexploit
Esperanto ekspluati
  • ekspluatiexploit
Finnish käyttää, hyödyntää
  • käyttäämake use of
  • hyödyntäämake use of
  • käyttää hyväksiexploit
  • riistääexploit
  • hyödyntääexploit
French profiter de
  • profiter demake use of
German nutzen, Gebrauch machen von
  • nutzenmake use of
  • Gebrauch machen vonmake use of
  • ausnutzenexploit
  • einen Vorteil ziehen ausexploit
Hungarian kihasznál, hasznát veszi
  • kihasználmake use of
  • hasznát veszimake use of
  • kihasználexploit
Italian sfruttare, approfittare
  • sfruttaremake use of
  • approfittaremake use of
  • avvantaggiarsiexploit
Malay mempergunakan
  • mempergunakanexploit
Māori makihuhunu, whakamahi
  • makihuhunumake use of
  • whakamahimake use of
  • makihuhunuexploit
Polish korzystać, skorzystać
  • korzystaćmake use of
  • skorzystaćmake use of
  • wykorzystywaćexploit
  • wykorzystaćexploit
Portuguese aproveitar, tirar vantagem de
  • aproveitarmake use of
  • tirar vantagem deexploit
  • explorarexploit
Romanian abuza de, exploata
  • abuza demake use of
  • exploatamake use of
  • exploataexploit
Russian воспо́льзоваться, испо́льзовать
  • воспо́льзоваться (vospólʹzovatʹsja)make use of
  • испо́льзовать (ispólʹzovatʹ)make use of
  • эксплуати́ровать (ekspluatírovatʹ)exploit
  • воспользоваться (vospolʹzovatʹsja)exploit
Scottish Gaelic gabh brath air, gabh brath air
  • gabh brath airmake use of
  • gabh brath airexploit
Spanish aprovecharse, aprovechar
  • aprovecharsemake use of
  • aprovecharmake use of
  • aprovecharseexploit
Swedish dra nytta av, utnyttja
  • dra nytta avmake use of
  • utnyttjamake use of
  • utnyttjaexploit
Turkish yararlanmak, faydalanmak
  • yararlanmakmake use of
  • faydalanmakmake use of
  • sömürmekexploit
  • istismar etmekexploit
  • yararlanmakexploit
  • faydalanmakexploit
Cite this entry
APA

take advantage of. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20advantage%20of

MLA

“take advantage of.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20advantage%20of. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “take advantage of,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/take%20advantage%20of.

Source: take advantage of on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.