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avail

UK/əˈveɪl/ US/ʌˈveɪl/ uncommon obsolete uk us
verb (3) noun (1)

verb

1.

use to one''s advantage

  • “He availed himself of the available resources”
2.

be of use to, be useful to

  • “It will avail them to dispose of their booty”
3.

take or use

  • “She helped herself to some of the office supplies”
Synonyms

noun

1.

a means of serving

  • “of no avail”
  • “there”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English availen (“to be of use”), from Old French a (“to”) + vail from valoir (“to be worth”), from Latin valere (“to be worthy, strong”).

Phrases

  • of no avail
  • to little avail
  • to no avail

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.