Exploit

How to spell exploit

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce exploit

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does exploit mean?

1. verbTo make use of a resource or situation, or to take unfair advantage of a person or thing.
2. nounA notable or daring act or achievement.

Exploit in a sentence

• verb

  The company tried to exploit a loophole in the tax rules.

• noun

  The climber wrote a memoir about every dangerous exploit of her career.

• verb

  Managers should not exploit junior staff by demanding unpaid overtime.

• noun

  His latest exploit on the rugby field made the local headlines.

Where does exploit come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word travels from the Latin verb explicare, which literally meant 'to unfold' or 'to unroll', built from ex- 'out' and plicare 'to fold'. The past-participle form explicitum gave a sense of something carried out or fully unfurled, and through Old French it became esploit (later exploit), a noun meaning an achievement, progress, or a completed deed. English borrowed it in the 1300s, at first chiefly for a notable feat or daring accomplishment. The modern verb sense of 'to use for advantage', and the harsher sense of 'to take unfair advantage of', grew up much later, in the nineteenth century, from the idea of putting a resource fully to use. The same plicare root that means 'fold' still hides inside relatives such as 'explicit', 'imply', and 'complicated', which is a useful reminder of the silent logic behind the spelling.

How the word is built

• ex- (out)
• ploit (from Latin plicare: to fold); from explicare/explicitum 'to unfold, accomplish'