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

But there’s a lot going on in Charlotte ahead of the Wednesday night match in Bank of America Stadium. — Alex Zietlow july 25, Charlotte Observer, 25 July 2026

The 2019 first-round pick was acquired in a trade with the Green Bay Packers ahead of free agency this offseason and is now in line for the bulk of the snaps at one of the two primary outside linebacker spots. — Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 July 2026

Postpaid phone net additions of 184,000 was ahead of the 111,000 consensus, per FactSet. — Jeff Marks, CNBC, 24 July 2026

Elliot Anderson’s performances for England will excite City fans ahead of his arrival, though the longer-serving City players generally did not stand out too much for their nations. — Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 24 July 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