gain

1 of 2

noun

ˈgān 

1

: resources or advantage acquired or increased : profit

made substantial gains last year

2

: the act or process of acquiring something

3

a

: an increase in amount, magnitude, or degree

a gain in efficiency

b

: the increase (as of voltage or signal intensity) caused by an amplifier

especially : the ratio of output over input

c

: the signal-gathering ability of an antenna

gain

2 of 2

verb

gained; gaining; gains

transitive verb

1

a

: to acquire or get possession of usually by industry, merit, or craft

gain an advantage

he stood to gain a fortune

b

: to win in competition or conflict

the troops gained enemy territory

c(1)

: to arrive at : reach, attain

gained the river that night

(2)

: traverse, cover

gained 10 yards on the play

d

: to get by a natural development or process

gain strength

e

: to establish a specific relationship with

gain a friend

2

a

: to make an increase of (a specified amount)

gained three percent in the past month

b

: to increase in (a particular quality)

gain momentum

3

: to win to one's side : persuade

gain adherents to a cause

4

: to cause to be obtained or given : attract

gain attention

5

of a timepiece : to run fast by the amount of

the clock gains a minute a day

intransitive verb

1

: to get advantage : profit

hoped to gain by the deal

2

a

: increase

the day was gaining in warmth

b

: to increase in weight

c

: to improve in health or ability

3

of a timepiece : to run fast

4

: to get closer to something pursued

—usually used with on or upon

gainer noun

see also:

gain ground

Synonyms of gain

Noun

• increase
• boost

Verb

• gather
• accumulate
• grow (in)

Examples of gain in a Sentence

Noun

The medication can cause nausea and weight gain.

attributed her recent weight gain to the medication she was taking

Verb

They stand to gain an advantage over their competitors by getting an early start.

What do you hope to gain from this?

gain control of the territory

Investigators are trying to gain access to the group's financial records.

We were unable to gain admission to the club.

We need to gain a better understanding of the problem.

They had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

He first gained attention as a young writer.

Her theories are slowly gaining acceptance.

I took the job to gain experience.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Industrial corporate profitability, however, has seen a notable turnaround, swinging from barely positive growth last year to double-digit gains this year. — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 27 Aug. 2026

This comes after shares of Target spiked last Wednesday after the retailer reported second-quarter top- and bottom-line gains and raised its outlook for the year. — Kathryn Hopkins, Footwear News, 26 Aug. 2026

Verb

The memory chipmaker surged more than fivefold in its Shanghai debut in July, quickly becoming China’s most valuable company, and has gained another 20% since then as of Thursday. — Anniek Bao,elaine Yu, CNBC, 28 Aug. 2026

With Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine and America no longer an ever-willing ally, the European defense industry is gaining new fans and significant amounts of investment. — Kamal Ahmed, Fortune, 27 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English gain, borrowed from Anglo-French gain, gaigne, gaaing "tillage, winning, profit," derivative of gaainer, gaaigner "to till, secure (profit, advantage)" — more at gain entry 2

Note: See note at gain entry 2.

Verb

Middle English gaynen "to prevail against," borrowed from Anglo-French gaainer, gaaigner "to cultivate, till, secure (profit, advantage), capture, acquire, be victorious," probably going back to an Old Low Franconian verbal derivative from continental West Germanic *waiđ- "grassland, pasture" (whence Old High German weida "pasture," Old Saxon weiđa), of uncertain origin

Note: An Old Low Franconian verb *waiđanjan has been suggested as the source of the Romance verb, as by Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (FEW) and Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF). The base has traditionally been taken to be that of Old High German weida "pasture," Old Saxon weiđa, from which a verb meaning "to pasture" was derived, which then hypothetically developed the sense "to cultivate, till" and further derived senses. Alternatively, the verb could be linked to Old High German weidenōn "to hunt," a derivative of weida "hunt, quantity of game taken, catch" (corresponding to Old English wāth "hunt, chase, wandering," Old Norse veiðr "catch, haul of fish," all probably unrelated to weida). Objections to a form *waiđanjan have been raised by H. Stimm (in a footnote to the FEW article) and by B. Diensberg (in "Old French Loanwords of Germanic Origin Borrowed into English," Symposium on Lexicography X: Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on Lexicography May 4-6 2000 at the University of Copenhagen [Tübingen, 2002], pp. 91- ); Stimm prefers a form weidanōn and Diensberg weid(e)nōn, the latter identical to the attested Old High German verb cited above. Diensberg also objects to the lexicographic use of "Old Low Franconian" to refer to French vocabulary originating from a Germanic superstratum on the grounds that Old Low Franconian (altniederfränkisch, ancien bas francique) should refer only to language from the period 1000 to 1200, and that forms from the fifth to ninth centuries should be referred to as simply "Frankish" (the tenth century is unaccounted for). As the source of Old French gaaigner, Diensberg rejects Frankish entirely, on the grounds that the "Romance" etymon *gwadanjāre [sic] is found throughout most of the Romance speech area and must have a more remote Germanic source. DEAF hypothesizes that the verb was carried by Carolingian culture into the Occitan speech area and from there to the Iberian Peninsula and northern Italy, where it may have met cognate forms in Gothic and Langobardic. — In Middle English both the noun and verb are presumed to have crossed with borrowings of Old Norse gagn "advantage, victory." Early Modern English gain has acquired senses directly from Middle French and French gagner.

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Phrases Containing gain

• capital gain
• capital gain tax
• gain/gather steam
• gain/get access to
• gain ground
• gain ground on
• gain on
• gain the lead
• gain time
• gain weight
• gather/gain momentum
• get/have/gain a/the jump on
• no gain without pain
• no pain, no gain

Rhymes for gain

• ane
• bane
• blain
• brain
• cane
• chaine
• cheyne
• deign
• drain
• fain
• fane
• feign

Kids Definition

gain

1 of 2 noun

ˈgān 

1

: resources or advantage acquired or increased : profit

financial gains

2

: an increase in amount, size, or degree

a gain in weight

gain

2 of 2 verb

1

a

: to get possession of often by effort : earn

gain an advantage

b

: to win in competition or conflict

gain a victory

c

: to get by a natural development or process

gain strength

d

: to arrive at

the swimmer gained the shore

2

: to win to one's side : persuade

3

: to increase in

gain momentum

4

: to run fast

my watch gains a minute a day

5

: to get advantage : profit

hoped to gain from the deal

6

a

: increase entry 1 sense 1

the day was gaining in warmth

b

: to increase in weight

c

: to improve in health

gainer noun

Medical Definition

gain

intransitive verb

ˈgān 

: to improve in health

the patient gained daily

Legal Definition

gain

noun

1

: an increase in value, capital, or amount compare loss

— capital gain

: a gain realized on the sale or exchange of a capital asset (as a stock or real estate)

— casualty gain

: a gain realized by an insured because property insurance benefits paid for a loss from a casualty or theft are greater than the adjusted value of the insured asset

— long-term capital gain

: a capital gain realized on the sale or exchange of an asset held for more than a specified period (as a year)

— ordinary gain

: a gain from the exchange or sale of an asset that is not capital

— short-term capital gain

: a capital gain realized on the sale or exchange of an asset held for less than a specified period (as a year) that is treated as ordinary income under federal income tax laws

2

plural, in the civil law of Louisiana : a class of community property that reflects the increase in property value contributed by the common skill or labor of the spouses

gain verb