(~s, ~ing, or ~ting ~ed, or ~ted)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
The ~ of something is the help that you get from it or the advantage that results from it.
Each family farms individually and reaps the ~ of its labor...
I’m a great believer in the ~s of this form of therapy...
For maximum ~, use your treatment every day.
= advantage, profit
N-VAR: oft N of n
2.
If something is to your ~ or is of ~ to you, it helps you or improves your life.
This could now work to Albania’s ~...
I hope what I have written will be of ~ to someone else who may feel the same way.
= advantage
N-UNCOUNT: oft with poss, of N to n
3.
If you ~ from something or if it ~s you, it helps you or improves your life.
Both sides have ~ed from the talks.
...a variety of government programs ~ing children.
= profit
VERB: V from n, V n, also V
4.
If you have the ~ of some information, knowledge, or equipment, you are able to use it so that you can achieve something.
Steve didn’t have the ~ of a formal college education...
= advantage
N-UNCOUNT: N of n
5.
Benefit is money that is given by the government to people who are poor, ill, or unemployed.
...the removal of ~ from school-leavers...
N-VAR: oft on N
6.
A ~, or a ~ concert or dinner, is an event that is held in order to raise money for a particular charity or person.
I am organising a ~ gig in Bristol to raise these funds.
N-COUNT: oft N n
7.
see also fringe ~ , unemployment ~
8.
If you give someone the ~ of the doubt, you treat them as if they are telling the truth or as if they have behaved properly, even though you are not sure that this is the case.
At first I gave him the ~ of the doubt...
PHRASE: usu PHR after v
9.
If you say that someone is doing something for the ~ of a particular person, you mean that they are doing it for that person.
You need people working for the ~ of the community...
PHRASE: PHR after v