ahead

adverb or adjective

ə-ˈhed 

1

a

: in a forward direction or position : forward

b

: in front

2

: in, into, or for the future

plan ahead

3

: in or toward a more advantageous position

helped others to get ahead

4

: at or to an earlier time : in advance

make payments ahead

5

a

: in or into a leading position in a race or competition

a politician who is running ahead in most polls

Josh Carter scored from a yard out and the Pride added a two-point conversion to surge ahead 14-7.

—Cumberland (Maryland) Times-News

b baseball

(1)

of a pitcher : in or into the situation of having thrown more strikes than balls to a batter

Home run threat Mark Reynolds was up next with the bases loaded, but Colon quickly got ahead 1-2 in the count and struck the third baseman out swinging with a … fastball.

—Ray Monell

(2)

of a batter : in or into the situation of having a count of more balls than strikes

Albert Pujols got ahead 3-1 and then lined one into the seats in left for his 20th home run of the year and second of the series.

—John Fay

Synonyms

• afore [chiefly dialect]
• already
• antecedently
• anteriorly
• before
• beforehand
• earlier
• formerly
• preliminarily
• previously

Examples of ahead in a Sentence

call ahead for reservations

sent me ahead to get a place in the check-out line while she went to get the eggs and milk

the line moved ahead at a snail's pace

Recent Examples on the Web

In game two, the teenagers settled down a bit, cut down on their unforced errors and got ahead early. —Todd Boss, Forbes.com, 4 May 2025

Golden State entered the night ahead in the series 3-2 and could have closed it out with a win at home at Chase Center on Friday. —The Athletic Nba Staff, New York Times, 3 May 2025

Keep scrolling to shop similar styles, plus a pair of wired headphones to really copy the star in the weeks ahead. —Nicol Natale, People.com, 3 May 2025

Up until now, Skydance and Paramount had been moving full-speed ahead under the presumption that the transaction will be completed soon. —Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 3 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1568, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing ahead

• ahead of
• ahead of one's/its time
• ahead of one's time
• ahead of schedule
• ahead of the curve
• ahead of the game
• ahead of time
• a/one step ahead of
• are/keep/stay one jump ahead
• dead ahead
• full steam/speed ahead
• get ahead
• given the go-ahead
• go-ahead
• go ahead with (something)
• going full speed ahead
• lie ahead
• light-years ahead
• look ahead
• move ahead/along
• plow ahead
• pull ahead
• received/got the go-ahead
• stay/keep ahead of the field
• straight-ahead
• streets ahead of
• the go-ahead
• think ahead

Rhymes for ahead

• abed
• beachhead
• bedspread
• bedstead
• behead
• blackhead
• blockhead
• bloodshed
• bowhead
• breastfed
• bridgehead
• broadhead

Kids Definition

ahead

adverb or adjective

ə-ˈhed 

1

: in or toward the front

the road ahead

go ahead

2

: in, into, or for the future

think ahead

3

: in or toward a better position

came out $20 ahead on the deal

4

: at or to an earlier time : in advance

make payments ahead