Advancement

How to spell advancement

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce advancement

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does advancement mean?

1. nounThe process of developing or improving something, or of moving it forward.
2. nounPromotion or progress to a higher position, especially in a job or career.

Advancement in a sentence

• The advancement of medical research has saved countless lives.

• She took the training course to improve her chances of advancement.

• Rapid technological advancement has reshaped how we work.

• The firm offers clear pathways for professional advancement.

Where does advancement come from?

Language of origin: French

This word traces back to the Old French verb avancer, meaning 'to move forward', which itself grew out of the Late Latin abante, a fusion of ab 'from' and ante 'before' that conveyed the sense of being 'in front'. Speakers later wrongly assumed the opening 'av-' was the familiar Latin prefix ad- 'to', and so the spelling drifted toward 'advance' with an inserted 'd' that the original Latin never had. English took up advance during the 1300s, and the noun advancement, built by adding the action-forming suffix -ment, soon followed to name the act of moving something forward or of being promoted. By the 1400s it carried both the literal idea of forward motion and the figurative one of progress in rank, learning, or fortune. The silent logic of that intrusive 'd' is the main thing to fix in memory: it is ad-VANCE, not av-VANCE.

How the word is built

• advance (move forward, from Old French avancer)
• -ment (noun suffix denoting an action or result)