different between sway vs advantage

English

Etymology

Earlier swey (“to fall, swoon”), from Middle English sweyen, from Old Norse sveigja (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-Germanic *swaigijan? (compare Saterland Frisian swooie (“to swing, wave, wobble”), Dutch zwaaien, Dutch Low Saxon sweuen (“to sway in the wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweh?- (compare Lithuanian sva?gti (“to become giddy or dizzy”), the second element of Avestan ????????????????????-????????????????????????????? (paⁱri-šxuaxta, “to surround”), Sanskrit ?????? (svájate, “he embraces, enfolds”).

The noun derived from the verb.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sw?, IPA^(key): /swe?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Noun

sway (countable and uncountable, plural sways)

1. The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
2. A rocking or swinging motion.

3. Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side
4. Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
5. Rule; dominion; control; power.
6. A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
7. The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's lateral motion.

Translations

Verb

sway (third-person singular simple present sways, present participle swaying, simple past and past participle swayed)

1. To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.

   • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

2. To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.
3. To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.

   • This was the race / To sway the world, and land and sea subdue.
4. To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; warp.
   • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious

     Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest.

5. (nautical) To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.

6. To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.
   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     The balance sways on our part.

7. To have weight or influence.
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     The example of sundry churches […] doth sway much.

8. To bear sway; to rule; to govern.

Derived terms

• asway

Translations

See also

• persuade

Anagrams

• -ways, Yaws, ways, yaws

English

Alternative forms

• advauntage (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English avantage, avauntage, from Old French avantage, from avant (“before”), from Medieval Latin abante. The spelling with d was a mistake, a- being supposed to be from Latin ad (see advance). For sense development, compare foredeal.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?d?v??n.t?d?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?d?væn.(t)?d?/

Noun

advantage (countable and uncountable, plural advantages)

1. (countable) Any condition, circumstance, opportunity or means, particularly favorable to success, or to any desired end.
2. (obsolete) Superiority; mastery; — used with of to specify its nature or with over to specify the other party.
3. (countable, uncountable) Superiority of state, or that which gives it; benefit; gain; profit

4. (tennis) The score where one player wins a point after deuce but needs the next to carry the game.
5. (soccer) The continuation of the game after a foul against the attacking team, because the attacking team are in an advantageous position.
6. Interest of money; increase; overplus (as the thirteenth in the baker's dozen).

Synonyms

• foredeal, benefit, value, edge
• vantage

Antonyms

• disadvantage, drawback

Derived terms