Advantage
Advantage noun - The more favorable condition or position in a competition.
Usage example: your experience volunteering at the hospital will put you at an advantage when you're applying for a job there
Handicap
Handicap noun - A feature of someone or something that creates difficulty for achieving success.
Usage example: her natural shyness was not a handicap when she played chess
Nearby Words: handicapped, handicapping
How words are described
| physical | physical advantage | physical handicap |
| initial | initial advantage | initial handicap |
| single | single advantage | single handicap |
| obvious | obvious advantage | obvious handicap |
| Other adjectives: definite, real, massive, large, great, serious, huge, little, slight, potential, noticeable, new, major, useful, minor, additional, significant, primary, added, technological, biggest. | ||
Both words in one sentence
- Constitution has been amended to allow the Handicapper General to physically handicap anyone with an advantage.
Source: Literature / Harrison Bergeron -
Averted in OpenTTD: the landscaping handicap was removed, which means the custom AIs must be programmed to survive without that advantage (and they're able to do so rather well).
Source: Video Game / Transport Tycoon - The Atari 2600 provides competitive balance in two-player games by way of its difficulty switches, which gives novice players a slight gameplay advantage over stronger players or alternately gives stronger players a handicap to deal with novice players.
Source: Competitive Balance
Cite this Source
Handicap and Advantage. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/advantage/handicap
Advantage & Handicap. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/advantage/handicap>.
Handicap or Advantage. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/advantage/handicap.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "advantage" and "handicap" have occurred on timeline