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Benefit vs Prospect - What's the difference?

benefit | prospect |

In intransitive terms the difference between benefit and prospect

is that benefit is to receive a benefit (from); to be a beneficiary while prospect is to search, as for gold.

As nouns the difference between benefit and prospect

is that benefit is an advantage, help, sake or aid from something while prospect is the region which the eye overlooks at one time; view; scene; outlook.

As verbs the difference between benefit and prospect

is that benefit is to be or to provide a benefit to while prospect is to search, as for gold.

benefit

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • An advantage, help, sake or aid from something.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit , Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.}}
  • A payment made in accordance with an insurance policy or a public assistance scheme.
  • A performance, etc, given to raise funds for some cause.
  • (obsolete) beneficence; liberality

    • Derived terms

    * beneficial * benefiter

    Synonyms

    * (advantage, help ): foredeal, advantage, aid, assistance, boon, help * (payment ): subsidy

    Antonyms

    * (advantage, help ): disadvantage, encumbrance, hindrance, nuisance, obstacle, detriment

    See also

    * lagniappe

    Verb

  • To be or to provide a benefit to.
  • * Bible, Jer. xviii. 10
    • I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
  • To receive a benefit (from); to be a beneficiary.

    • Usage notes

    * Benefiting and benefited are more common, with benefitting and benefitted being a minor variant especially in the US.

    Synonyms

    * help, batten

    Antonyms

    * malefic * detriment

    Derived terms

    (terms derived from "benefit") * benefit association * benefit dollar * benefit in kind * benefit of clergy * benefit principle * benefit society * benefit-cost analysis * benefit-cost ratio * benefits coordinator * bennies * cafeteria benefit * child tax benefit * core benefit * cost-benefit analysis * death benefit * elective benefit * employee benefit * equivalent annual benefit * family benefit * friend with benefits * fringe benefit * income-related benefit * injury benefit * maternity benefit * means-tested benefit * nonstatutory fringe benefit * nonwage benefit * private benefit * risk-benefit * sickness benefit * state benefit * stranded benefit * supplementary benefit * survivor benefit * unemployment benefit * variable death benefit *

    Related terms

    (terms related to "benefit") * benefactor * beneficence * beneficent * beneficiary

    prospect

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The region which the eye overlooks at one time; view; scene; outlook.
  • * Milton
    • His eye discovers unaware / The goodly prospect of some foreign land.
  • A picturesque or panoramic view; a landscape; hence, a sketch of a landscape.
  • * Evelyn
    • I went to Putney to take prospects in crayon.
  • A position affording a fine view; a lookout.
  • * 1667 , Milton, Paradise Lost
    • Him God beholding from his prospect high.
  • Relative position of the front of a building or other structure; face; relative aspect.
  • * Bible, Ezekiel xl. 44
    • Their prospect was toward the south.
  • The act of looking forward; foresight; anticipation.
  • * John Locke
    • a very ill prospect of a future state
  • * Tillotson
    • Is he a prudent man as to his temporal estate, that lays designs only for a day, without any prospect to, or provision for, the remaining part of life?
  • The potential things that may come to pass, often favorable.
  • *
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 2, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC
    • , title= Bulgaria 0-3 England , passage=And a further boost to England's qualification prospects came after the final whistle when Wales recorded a 2-1 home win over group rivals Montenegro, who Capello's men face in their final qualifier.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Joseph Stiglitz)
    • , volume=188, issue=26, page=19, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Globalisation is about taxes too , passage=It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. […] It is the starving of the public sector which has been pivotal in America no longer being the land of opportunity – with a child's life prospects more dependent on the income and education of its parents than in other advanced countries.}}
  • A hope; a hopeful.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 10, author=Jeremy Wilson, work=Telegraph
    • , title= England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report , passage=The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland. His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott. }}
  • (sports) Any player whose rights are owned by a top-level professional team, but who has yet to play a game for said team.
  • (music) The of an organ.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To search, as for gold.