exploit

1 of 2

noun

ex·​ploit ˈek-ˌsplȯit How to pronounce exploit (audio) ik-ˈsplȯit How to pronounce exploit (audio)
plural exploits
Synonyms of exploitnext
: 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 exploits … —Sir 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

ex·​ploit ik-ˈsplȯit How to pronounce exploit (audio) ˈek-ˌsplȯit How to pronounce exploit (audio)
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
ik-ˌsploi-tə-ˈbi-lə-tē How to pronounce exploit (audio)
noun
exploitable
ik-ˈsplȯi-tə-bəl How to pronounce exploit (audio)
adjective
exploiter noun

Synonyms

Noun

Verb

See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus 
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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
Names were called out for each veteran and their unit before their remains were brought forward and stories were shared about their exploits. —CBS News, 5 Nov. 2024 Hatcher’s exploits in Southeast Asia in the eighties and nineties are now held up by conservationists as case studies of cultural theft and the careless destruction of historical sites. —Sam Knight, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2024
Verb
Scientists are also trying to exploit the fungus’s sensitivity to temperature by building Bd-free habitats or moving frogs to locales where the fungus can’t survive. —Martin J. Kernan, Discover Magazine, 16 Nov. 2024 Still, just last year, Chinese hackers exploited Microsoft security lapses to breach the email accounts of senior U.S. officials. —Renee Dudley, ProPublica, 15 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for exploit 

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

1838, in the meaning defined at sense 2

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

Dictionary Entries Near exploit

explodent

exploit

exploitation

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Exploit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exploit. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.

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Kids Definition

exploit

1 of 2 noun
ex·​ploit ˈek-ˌsplȯit How to pronounce exploit (audio) ik-ˈsplȯit How to pronounce exploit (audio)
: a brave or daring act

exploit

2 of 2 verb
ex·​ploit ik-ˈsplȯit How to pronounce exploit (audio) ˈek-ˌsplȯit How to pronounce exploit (audio)
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
-ə-bəl How to pronounce exploit (audio)
adjective
exploitation
ˌek-ˌsplȯi-ˈtā-shən
noun
exploiter
ik-ˈsplȯit-ər
ˈek-ˌsplȯit-
noun

More from Merriam-Webster on exploit

Nglish: Translation of exploit for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of exploit for Arabic Speakers

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