avail

¹avail

verb \ə-ˈvāl\

Definition of AVAIL

intransitive verb

: to be of use or advantage : serve <our best efforts did not avail>

transitive verb

: to produce or result in as a benefit or advantage : gain <his efforts availed him nothing>

— avail oneself of also avail of

: to make use of : take advantage of <they availed themselves of his services>

Examples of AVAIL

1. Our best efforts did not avail.
2. <all your begging will not avail you in the least>
3. In such a Hobbesian world, grand idealistic designs will avail the United States nothing. Nor will a quest for American dominance in the name of the good. —Laura Secor, New York Times Book Review, 26 June 2005
4. Soon middle-class girls were slipping into their starched white shirtwaists, marching into a place of business … and eventually standing up as private secretaries, bank tellers, accountants, and managers. So many, in fact, availed themselves of this new opportunity that by 1900 nearly 75 percent of all clerical workers in America were women (Bliven puts the number, in 1888, at 60,000); and for decades the typist and her machine were both called “typewriters.” —Arthur Krystal, Harper's, December 2002
5. One comes away from the book stunned by the remarkable energy and willingness to resist that so many demonstrated but haunted by the recognition of how little that resistance availed. —Louis Menand, New Yorker, 25 Nov. 2002

Origin of AVAIL

Middle English, Anglo-French availler, probably from a- (from Latin ad-) + valer, valoir to be of worth, from Latin valēre — more at wield

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to AVAIL

Synonyms: advantage, benefit, help, profit, serve

Related Words: succeed, work (for); aid, assist; better, improve; content, delight, gladden, gratify, please, satisfy; bless

Near Antonyms: hinder, impede; damage, harm, hurt, impair, injure; afflict, distress, upset

[+]more[-]hide

Rhymes with AVAIL

abseil, airmail, all hail, assail, bake sale, bangtail, blackmail, blacktail, bobtail, broadscale, broadtail, bucktail, bud scale, canaille, cattail, chain mail, coattail, cocktail, contrail, curtail, derail, detail, doornail, dovetail, downscale, ducktail, e-mail, entail, exhale, fan mail, fantail, female, fife rail, fire sale, fishtail, folktale, foresail, foxtail, fresh gale, full-scale, gapped scale, Glendale, gray scale, greenmail, guardrail, Hallel, handrail, hangnail, headsail, hightail, hobnail, horntail, horsetail, impale, inhale, junk mail, Longueuil, lugsail, mainsail, mare's tail, Mondale, moon snail, oxtail, pass-fail, percale, pigtail, pintail, pinwale, plate rail, pot ale, prevail, rattail, regale, resale, rescale, retail, right whale, ringtail, Sangreal, Scottsdale, sea kale, shavetail, shirttail, skysail, slop pail, small-scale, snail mail, soft hail, split rail, springtail, spritsail, square sail, staysail, strong gale, surveil, swordtail, taffrail, tag sale, telltale, third rail, thumbnail, timescale, toenail, topsail, travail, trysail, unnail, unveil, upscale, ventail, voice mail, wage scale, wagtail, wassail, whiptail, white sale, whitetail, white whale, whole gale, wholesale, yard sale