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Merit vs Advantage - What's the difference?

merit | advantage |

In obsolete terms the difference between merit and advantage

is that merit is the quality or state of deserving either good or bad; desert while advantage is superiority; mastery; — used with of to specify its nature or with over to specify the other party.

In transitive terms the difference between merit and advantage

is that merit is to earn or to deserve while advantage is to provide (someone) with an advantage, to give an edge to.

merit

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Something deserving positive recognition.
  • His reward for his merit was a check for $50.
  • Something worthy of a high rating.
  • A claim to commendation or reward.
  • The quality of deserving reward.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Reputation is oft got without merit , and lost without deserving.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known, / And every author's merit , but his own.
  • Reward deserved; any mark or token of excellence or approbation.
  • His teacher gave him ten merits .
  • * Prior
  • those laurel groves, the merits of thy youth
  • (obsolete) The quality or state of deserving either good or bad; desert.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Be it known, that we, the greatest, are misthought / For things that others do; and when we fall, / We answer others' merits in our name.

    Synonyms

    * (l) * (l)

    Antonyms

    * (l)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To earn or to deserve.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited .}}
  • To be worthy or deserving.
  • (obsolete, rare) To reward.
  • (Chapman)

    Derived terms

    * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l)

    Anagrams

    * ----

    advantage

    English

    Alternative forms

    * advauntage (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any condition, circumstance, opportunity or means, particularly favorable to success, or to any desired end.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author= Ed Pilkington
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= ‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told , passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}
  • * Shakespeare
  • Give me advantage of some brief discourse.
  • * Macaulay
  • the advantages of a close alliance
  • (obsolete) Superiority; mastery; — used with of to specify its nature or with over to specify the other party.
  • * Bible, 2 Corinthians ii. 11
  • Lest Satan should get an advantage of us.
  • Superiority of state, or that which gives it; benefit; gain; profit; as, the advantage of a good constitution.
  • (tennis) The score where one player wins a point after deuce but needs the next too to carry the game.
  • (soccer) The continuation of the game after a foul against the attacking team, because the attacking team are in a advantageous position.
  • * November 17 2012 , BBC Sport: Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham
  • Webb played an advantage that enabled Cazorla to supply a low cross from the left for Giroud to sweep home first time, despite Gallas and Vertonghen being in close attendance.
  • Interest of money; increase; overplus (as the thirteenth in the baker's dozen).
  • * Shakespeare
  • And with advantage means to pay thy love.

    Synonyms

    * foredeal, benefit, value, edge * vantage

    Antonyms

    * disadvantage, drawback

    Derived terms

    * advantage ground * advantageous * advantageously * advantageousness * have the advantage * take advantage

    Verb

    (advantag)
  • To provide (someone) with an advantage, to give an edge to.
  • (reflexive) To do something for one's own benefit; to take advantage of.
  • *, II.7:
  • No man of courage vouchsafeth to advantage himselfe of that which is common unto many.

    Usage notes

    * Some authorities object to the use of advantage as a verb meaning "to provide with an advantage".

    Synonyms

    * favor, favorise * benefit

    Derived terms

    * advantageable

    References

    * ----