take advantage of
English
[edit]Verb
[edit]take 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)
- To use or make use of.
- He took advantage of the swimming pool every day of his visit.
- 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:
- 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
- To exploit.
- She took advantage of his desperation.
- He toyed with her emotions just to get her in bed. He took advantage of her.
- 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[1], Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 18:
- 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.
- 1998, Ching Kwan Lee, Gender and the South China Miracle[2], University of California Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, pages 45–46:
- 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.
- 2023 December 1, Emma Sanders, “England 3-2 Netherlands”, in BBC Sport[3]:
- 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.
Translations
[edit]make use of
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exploit
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