Etymologically
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advancement

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ædˈvɑːns.mənt/, /ədˈvɑːns.mənt/[1]
  • US: /ædˈvæns.mənt/, /ədˈvæns.mənt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English avauncement, borrowed from Anglo-Norman avauncement,[2][3][4] from Old French avancement (“progress, profit, promotion”),[5][2][6] formed from avancier (“to move forward”) and -ment.[5][6][7] The verb goes back to Vulgar Latin *abanteō, from Late Latin abante (“from before”), from ab (“from”) and ante (“before”).[6][5] The d was added in the 16th century, after advance,[5][3] in the mistaken belief that the first syllable was ad-.[6][5] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1150–70.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The raising of a person to a higher rank, promotion: about 1325, in the Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester.[2] Etymonline and Barnhart date it to about 1300.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it also meant help and prosperity,[4][5] and between about 1400 and 1766 a boast or the act of praising something.[2][9] A legal sense, providing for a child or other dependant in advance of a settlement or will, is recorded in English from 1411,[2] but the OED notes it in Anglo-Norman before 1326.[2][8] From about 1475 the word meant the furthering of a cause, and by 1532 the putting forward of an opinion.[2] Payment in advance is recorded in 1539 in the OED[2] but only in the 1640s in Etymonline.[5] Progress along a course, at first figurative, appears in 1540, and literal movement forward in 1637.[2] Johnson (1755) gave both "the act of coming forward" and "preferment".[10]

Timeline

  • 1150–70 – Anglo-Norman avancement.[8]
  • c. 1325 – promotion to higher rank.[2]
  • before 1400 – boasting (obsolete by 1766).[2]
  • 1411 – in law, provision for a dependant.[2]
  • c. 1475 – the furthering of a cause.[2]
  • 1539 – payment in advance.[2]
  • 1540 – progress (figurative); 1637 (literal).[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Promotion to a higher rank or position: hopes of advancement in the civil service.
  2. The furthering of a cause or of knowledge; progress: the advancement of medical research.
  3. A development or improvement.
  4. (law) Money or property given during a person's lifetime to a child or other expected heir, in anticipation of their share.
  5. (now rare) A going forward.

Word family

  • nonadvancement
  • self-advancement

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.