gain on
gain on verb: to encroach on.
Verb
gain on (third-person singular simple present gains on, present participle gaining on, simple past and past participle gained on)
- To encroach on.
- The ocean gains on the land.
- To obtain influence with.
- My gentleness and good behaviour had gained so far on the emperor and his court[…] that I began to conceive hopes of getting my liberty in a short time.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput)
- To win ground upon; to move faster than, as in a race or contest.
- Soon, the van lurched into a high gear and started gaining on Zoe, who was running as fast as her little legs would carry her.2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN
- To get the better of; to have the advantage of.
- The English have not only gained upon the Venetians in the Levant, but have their cloth in Venice itself.1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
Forms of gain on
| third-person singular present | gains on |
|---|---|
| present participle | gaining on |
| past participle | gained on |
| past | gained on |
| alternative form | gain upon |
Questions about gain on
- What does gain on mean?
- Gain on means to encroach on.
- What part of speech is gain on?
- Gain on is a verb.
- What is the past tense of gain on?
- The past tense of gain on is gained on.
Words near gain on in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gain on (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “gain on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gain_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.