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

His killing highlighted a climate of deep political tensions ahead of next year’s presidential vote. —Los Angeles Times, 23 Feb. 2026

Rotating forward shifts body weight ahead of the center of support, making balance control more demanding and landings less stable. —Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 23 Feb. 2026

Tensions between Brussels and Budapest have escalated ahead of Hungary’s elections this spring. —semafor.com, 23 Feb. 2026

Currently, Chelsea are third, one point behind United in second and four ahead of Arsenal in fourth, but their London rivals have two games in hand. —Cerys Jones, New York Times, 23 Feb. 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