Avail Definition

ə-vāl
availed, availing, avails
verb
availed, availing, avails
To be of use or advantage to; help.
Nothing could avail the dying patient.
American Heritage
To be of use, help, worth, or advantage (to), as in accomplishing an end.
Will force alone avail us?
Webster's New World
To be of use, value, or advantage; serve.
Halfway measures will no longer avail.
American Heritage

(often reflexive) To turn to the advantage of.

I availed myself of the opportunity.
Wiktionary

To be of service to.

Artifices will not avail the sinner in the day of judgment.
Wiktionary
noun
avails
Use, benefit, or advantage.
Labored to no avail.
American Heritage
Effective use or help; advantage.
He tried, but to no avail.
Webster's New World
Net proceeds; profits.
Webster's New World
Jeremy Taylor.
The avail of a deathbed repentance.
Wiktionary
1895, Andrew Lang, A Monk of Fife.
So this friar, unworthy as he was of his holy calling, had me at an avail on every side, nor do I yet see what I could do but obey him, as I did.
Wiktionary
idiom
avail (oneself) of
  • To make use of.
American Heritage
avail oneself of
  • to take advantage of (an opportunity, etc.); utilize
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Avail

Noun

Singular:
avail
Plural:
avails

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Avail

  • avail (oneself) of
  • avail oneself of

Origin of Avail

  • Middle English availen a- intensive pref. (from Latin ad- ad–) Old French valoir vail- to be worth (from Latin valēre to be strong wal- in Indo-European roots)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Middle English vailen (“to be of use”), from Old French valoir (“to be worth”), from Latin valeo (“to be strong”).

    From Wiktionary

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