exploit

1 of 2

noun

plural exploits
: deed, act
especially : a notable, memorable, or heroic act
a daring exploit
a book about his youthful exploits
I took out the list of Professor Challenger's exploits, and I read it over under the electric lamp. Arthur Conan Doyle
About midnight the gang returned, with various articles of plunder, and talked over their exploitsSir Walter Scott
It used to be rare for C.I.A. employees to recount their exploits, or grievances, in print. Alex Berenson

exploit

2 of 2

verb

exploited; exploiting; exploits

transitive verb

1
: to make productive use of : utilize
exploiting your talents
exploit your opponent's weakness
2
: to make use of meanly or unfairly for one's own advantage
exploiting migrant farm workers
exploitability noun
exploitable adjective
exploiter noun
Choose the Right Synonym for exploit

feat, exploit, achievement mean a remarkable deed.

feat implies strength or dexterity or daring.

an acrobatic feat

exploit suggests an adventurous or heroic act.

his exploits as a spy

achievement implies hard-won success in the face of difficulty or opposition.

her achievements as a chemist

Examples of exploit in a Sentence

Noun the fanciful exploits of the giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan once famed as an actor, John Wilkes Booth is now remembered for a single exploit, his assassination of Lincoln Verb He has never fully exploited his talents. Top athletes are able to exploit their opponents' weaknesses. She said the tragedy had been exploited by the media.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Eventually, Don Giovanni is forced to pay for his exploits in dramatic fashion, but not before some of the most famous arias, duets and ensembles in the opera canon are performed. Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Jan. 2024 The show, which followed the exploits of Adams’ character Mike Ross who manages to talk his way into a job as a lawyer despite having never attended law school, aired from June 2011 to September 2019. Kelsie Gibson, Peoplemag, 29 Feb. 2024 There’s no shortage of shearling in Masters of the Air, the epic new Apple TV+ series that follows the exploits of the U.S. Air Force’s 100th Bomb Group, known as the Bloody Hundredth, during WWII. Eric Twardzik, Robb Report, 21 Feb. 2024 The award-winning series follows the exploits of various guests and employees at an exclusive White Lotus resort. Partner Content, Variety, 12 Feb. 2024 That crash left her, in her 50s, with 16 screws in her left leg, the kind of traumatic injury that finishes the exploits of pro kickers and Olympic skiers. Peter Marks, Washington Post, 31 Jan. 2024 This coming-of-age comedy follows the exploits of 15-year-old Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), who deals with the emotional fallout of her father’s death while juggling school, a complicated relationship with her mother, and an obsessive crush on a classmate. Andrew Walsh, EW.com, 30 Jan. 2024 Yet as impressive as Ingenuity's exploits were over the last three years, and though its carbon fiber blades will spin no more, its work has only just begun. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 29 Jan. 2024 Her novels are actually hazy memories of her spy exploits. Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 13 Feb. 2024
Verb
Over the years, his innovation would be exploited and perverted beyond even his wildest dreams. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 4 Mar. 2024 In an impoverished country with little to exploit, the gangs are treating human beings like commodities, snatching at least 2,490 people off the street last year to trade in a fast-growing kidnapping business, per UN figures. Caitlin Stephen Hu, CNN, 4 Mar. 2024 And his campaign and its allies plan to exploit that division to their advantage. Michael Gold, New York Times, 1 Mar. 2024 An attacker that successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain privileges including read, write, and delete functionality, Microsoft said. Kate O'Flaherty, WIRED, 29 Feb. 2024 Scammers are exploiting the lack of security around QR codes both online and offline. David G.w. Birch, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024 Vulnerabilities within a single company can be more easily exploited. Brittany Trang , Tara Bannow, STAT, 27 Feb. 2024 The Galaxy’s attacking midfielder, Puig, exploited the open space that Inter Miami offered him. Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 26 Feb. 2024 Along the way, Ma reunites with series-regular Jang I-su (Park Ji-hwan) a petty hoodlum with an attachment to his designer man-purse and a secret desire, which Ma exploits amusingly, to be accepted as one of the squad. Jessica Kiang, Variety, 25 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'exploit.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English espleit, expleit, esploit, exploit "furtherance, favorable outcome, outcome (good or bad), undertaking, military expedition, deed of arms," borrowed from Anglo-French espleit, esploit, exploit "carrying out, execution, achievement, course, success, gain," probably noun derivative of espleiter, esploiter "to carry out, achieve, expedite" — more at exploit entry 2

Verb

Middle English espleiten, expleiten, expleten, esploiten "to facilitate, expedite (a journey), fulfill (a need), execute, complete, relate, explain," borrowed from Anglo-French espleiter, esploiter, exploiter "to carry out, achieve, promote, expedite, make use of, use unfairly, progress, succeed, act," probably going back to Vulgar Latin *explicitāre, repetitive derivative of Latin explicāre "to free from folds or creases, unroll, disentangle, spread out, bring into play, exercise" — more at explicate

Note: The Middle English form expleten suggests association with Latin explēre "to fill up, carry to completion, accomplish" (compare expletive entry 2). Latinizing variants with ex- have completely replaced earlier es- in both English and French. Earlier standard etymological dictionaries of French (Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bloch and Wartburg's Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française) see the noun as the more basic form, going back to *explicitum, allegedly formed from the neuter of the Latin past participle explicitus (see explicit)—though the sense of the noun is active, not passive. Romance outcomes of *explicitāre are mainly restricted to Gallo-Romance (as Old Occitan esplechar "to make use of, execute, accomplish") and Catalan (esplet "harvest," espletar "to harvest"). Note that *explicitāre preserves only the figurative meaning "bring into play, exercise" of the root word explicāre, out of which French and English have elaborated further meanings. The sense "relate, explain" of the Middle English verb is not paralleled in French and did not survive into Modern English.

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1795, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of exploit was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near exploit

Cite this Entry

“Exploit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exploit. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

exploit

1 of 2 noun
: a brave or daring act

exploit

2 of 2 verb
1
: to get value or use from
exploit your talents
exploit an opponent's weaknesses
2
: to make use of unfairly for one's own advantage
exploiting migrant farm workers
exploitable adjective
exploitation
ˌek-ˌsplȯi-ˈtā-shən
noun
exploiter
ik-ˈsplȯit-ər
ˈek-ˌsplȯit-
noun

More from Merriam-Webster on exploit

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