ahead of

preposition

1

: in front or advance of

They were ahead of us in line.

2

: in excess of

Synonyms of ahead of

• before
• prior to
• in advance of
• to

Examples of ahead of in a Sentence

She got ahead of me.

They went on ahead of us and by now are several miles ahead of us.

We have some hard work ahead of us.

The polls show that he is ahead of the other candidates.

The company is working hard to stay one step ahead of the competition.

They were trailing us by 5 points earlier in the game, but now they're ahead of us by 7.

Recent Examples on the Web

Trump has declined so far to endorse a successor, opting to keep his cards close ahead of what’s likely to be a bitter race. — Emily Hallas, The Washington Examiner, 29 Aug. 2026

OpenAI is planning to go public in 2027 and faces pressure to justify its $852 billion valuation ahead of its IPO, especially as some of its key metrics lag behind its rival Anthropic, which is also preparing for listing on public markets. — Priyanka Salve, CNBC, 28 Aug. 2026

The Aces are third in the WNBA standings, a half-game ahead of the Dream with the tiebreaker. — Sabreena Merchant, New York Times, 28 Aug. 2026

The producers are pursuing an international festival launch ahead of the film’s Norwegian premiere in 2027. — Davide Abbatescianni, Variety, 28 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1613, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for ahead of

• above
• foxglove
• hereof
• thereof
• whereof
• dove
• glove
• love
• shove
• hereinabove

Kids Definition

ahead of

preposition

: in or at a place or time before

got ahead of me

we're ahead of schedule