ahead of

preposition

1

: in front or advance of

2

: in excess of

Synonyms

• before
• prior to
• in advance of
• to
• previous 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

In a shocking move ahead of the NBA trade deadline, the Mavericks traded away their most prominent player of the decade in Luka Doncic. —Justin Grasso, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 June 2025

The cap figure is often tweaked just ahead of free agency opening, which is next week, as the league wraps up final accounting on the just-finished season. —Kurt Badenhausen, Sportico.com, 25 June 2025

Having finished ahead of both Switzerland and Iceland in their latest Nations League group, they should be backed to top this group. —Neel Shelat, Forbes.com, 25 June 2025

All of this is part of a trial run ahead of the World Cup, which will take place across North America in July 2026. —Emma Moon, Charlotte Observer, 25 June 2025

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