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

Bald eagle fans from around the country are rallying behind one of Big Bear's most famous families ahead of a planned Fourth of July fireworks show in the Southern California mountain town. — Drew Pittock, USA Today, 26 June 2026

The department says the project is two-months ahead of schedule with the goal of wrapping up most of the project by 2030. — Monique John, CBS News, 26 June 2026

But Newsom disagreed, and the opposing sides of the measure failed to reach a compromise ahead of the Thursday deadline to withdrawal a measure. — Ben Paviour, Sacbee.com, 26 June 2026

The question now is if that mood was indicative of the vibes around this US team changing ahead of the knockout stages now that the bubble of invincibility has been popped. — Kyle Feldscher, CNN Money, 26 June 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