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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

avail.

To turn to the advantage of.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/əˈveɪl/
  1. To turn to the advantage of.

    often · reflexive · transitive
    I availed myself of the opportunity.
  2. To be of service to.

    transitive
    Artifices will not avail the sinner in the day of judgment.
  3. To promote; to assist.

    transitive
  4. To be of use or advantage; to answer or serve the purpose; to have strength, force, or efficacy sufficient to accomplish the object.

    intransitive
    The plea in court must avail.
    This scheme will not avail.
  5. To provide; to make available.

    Africa · India
  6. To use or take advantage of (an opportunity or resource).

    Africa · India
    You can avail discounts on food.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English availen (“to be of use”), from Old French a (“to”) + vail from valoir (“to be worth”), from Latin valere (“to be worthy, strong”).

noun/əˈveɪl/
  1. Effect in achieving a goal or aim; purpose, use (now usually in negative constructions).

    countable · uncountable
    I tried fixing it to no avail.
    Labor, without economy, is of little avail.
  2. Proceeds; profits from business transactions.

    US · countable · uncountable
  3. An advertising slot or package.

    countable · uncountable
  4. A press avail.

    US · countable · uncountable
    While holding an avail yesterday, the candidate lashed out at critics.
  5. Non-binding notice of availability for work.

    UK · countable · uncountable
  6. A readily available stock of oil.

    countable · uncountable
  7. Benefit; value, profit; advantage toward success.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  8. Effort; striving.

    countable · obsolete · poetic · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English availen (“to be of use”), from Old French a (“to”) + vail from valoir (“to be worth”), from Latin valere (“to be worthy, strong”).

adj/əˈveɪl/
  1. Clipping of available.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · colloquial
Where this word comes from

From Middle English availen (“to be of use”), from Old French a (“to”) + vail from valoir (“to be worth”), from Latin valere (“to be worthy, strong”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.