Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use ahead in a sentence

40 example sentences · adverb

Ahead means at or towards the front; in the direction one is facing or moving. Example: “The island was directly ahead.”

Examples of ahead by meaning

adverbAt or towards the front; in the direction one is facing or moving.

  • The island was directly ahead.
  • Just ahead you can see the cliffs.
  • Keep going straight ahead.

adverbSo as to be further advanced, either spatially or in an abstract sense; to be superior.

  • He finished two laps ahead of me.
  • In all of his classes Jack was ahead.

adverbIn or for the future.

  • There may be tough times ahead.
  • You've got to think ahead so as not to be unprepared.

adverbTo a later time.

  • Set the clock ahead an hour.
  • Push the deadline ahead a day, from the 20th to the 21st.
  • When we saw that wasn't working in 1976, we moved the deadline ahead to 1978.1998, United States House Committee on Agriculture, Subcommittee on Department Operations, Nutrition, and Foreign Agriculture...

adverbAt an earlier time; beforehand; in advance.

  • He paid his rent ahead.

adverbTo an earlier time.

  • Push the deadline ahead a day, from the 21st to the 20th.
  • The Senate Republican leadership, eager to get a jump on the annual budget process, moved the deadline ahead to March 1 for Senate committees.1985, Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, volume 43, page 606

More sentences with ahead

  • We hope that the event will go ahead, but we are at the whim of the weather.From the entry at
  • We had to slow our advance after the enemy mined the road ahead of us.From the entry mine
  • Orders were reported to have increased 2% monthly, ahead of the 1.2% expected by the street.From the entry street
  • He's streets ahead of his sister in all the subjects in school.From the entry street
  • I think the balance of opinion is that we should get out while we're ahead.From the entry balance
  • I'm clean, officer. You can go ahead and search me if you want.From the entry clean
  • I've cleared the press release with the marketing department, so go ahead and publish it.From the entry clear
  • The detective wired ahead, hoping that the fugitive would be caught at the railway station.From the entry wire
  • Preferred stock has primary claim on dividends, ahead of common stock.From the entry primary
  • We got the thumbs up to go ahead with the project.From the entry thumbs up
  • The front runner was thirty meters ahead of her nearest competitor.From the entry front
  • The precinct is about ten minutes’ walk, straight ahead, so you can’t miss it.From the entry walk
  • The marathon runner in the lead is light years ahead of the one at the back.From the entry light year
  • Some of Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions were light years ahead of their time.From the entry light year
  • The lexical disambiguation relies on looking ahead to identify possible senses.From the entry disambiguation
  • "Do you want me to put this in the garage?" "Sure, go ahead."From the entry sure
  • I'll go ahead and you can catch up with me later.From the entry catch up
  • The team finished ahead of schedule and under budget. Way to go!From the entry way to go
  • Go ahead and eat without me. I expect to be very late.From the entry go ahead
  • Bravo Six Actual, this is Bravo Six Four. Go ahead, over.From the entry go ahead
  • This is scratch paper, so go ahead and scribble whatever you want on it.From the entry scratch
  • He navigated the course adeptly, having trained on it for months ahead of time.From the entry adeptly
  • They were way ahead but the game turned around on them and they lost 4–3.From the entry turn around
  • I like the idea, but let me sleep on it before we go ahead.From the entry sleep on
  • Then he gave it full speed ahead, and shot us into the inlet.From the entry full speed ahead
  • We got the OK on the conversion project. It's full speed ahead.From the entry full speed ahead
  • The cold was a foreboder of the nightmares of the winter that lay ahead.From the entry foreboder

Meaning of ahead

  1. adverb At or towards the front; in the direction one is facing or moving.
  2. adverb So as to be further advanced, either spatially or in an abstract sense; to be superior.
  3. adverb In or for the future.

Full definition of ahead

Questions about ahead in a sentence

How do you use ahead in a sentence?
Ahead is used as an adverb. For example: “The island was directly ahead.”
What is a short sentence with ahead?
“Keep going straight ahead.”
What does ahead mean?
Ahead means at or towards the front; in the direction one is facing or moving.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ahead (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use ahead in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/ahead. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.