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gain

Pronunciation: /ɡeɪn/

The English word “gain” has 20 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To acquire possession of.
  2. To have or receive advantage or profit; to acquire gain; to grow rich; to advance in interest, health, or happiness; to make progress.
  3. To come off winner or victor in; to be successful in; to obtain by competition.
  4. To increase.
  5. To grow more likely to catch or overtake someone.
  6. To reach.
  7. To draw into any interest or party; to win to one’s side; to conciliate.
  8. To put on weight.
  9. To run fast, often by a specified amount.

noun

  1. The act of gaining; acquisition.
  2. The thing or things gained.
  3. The factor by which a signal is multiplied.

preposition

  1. Against.

adjective

  1. Straight, direct; near; short.
  2. Suitable; convenient; ready.
  3. Easy; tolerable; handy, dexterous.
  4. Honest; respectable; moderate; cheap.

adverb

  1. Straightly; quickly; by the nearest way or means.
  2. Suitably; conveniently; dexterously; moderately.
  3. Tolerably; fairly.

Etymology

From Middle English gayn, gain, gein (“profit, advantage”), from Old Norse gagn (“benefit, advantage, use”), from Proto-Germanic *gagną, *gaganą (“gain, profit", literally "return”), from Proto-Germanic *gagana (“back, against, in return”), a reduplication of Proto-Germanic *ga- (“with, together”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“next to, at, with, along”). Cognate with Icelandic gagn (“gain,…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.