Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use gain in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun, preposition

Gain means to acquire possession of. Example: “Looks like you’ve gained a new friend.”

Examples of gain by meaning

verbTo acquire possession of.

  • Looks like you’ve gained a new friend.

verbTo have or receive advantage or profit; to acquire gain; to grow rich; to advance in interest, health, or happiness; to...

  • The sick man gains daily.

verbTo come off winner or victor in; to be successful in; to obtain by competition.

  • to gain a battle; to gain a case at law

verbTo grow more likely to catch or overtake someone.

  • to gain ground
  • I’m gaining (on you).

verbTo reach.

  • to gain the top of a mountain
  • Ernest laughed harshly and savagely when he had gained the street.1908 February 19, Jack London, The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC

verbTo put on weight.

  • I’ve been gaining.
  • Thinspo, bonespo, meanspo, sweetspo, anything that could motivate me not to eat, not to consume, not to gain, not to fail.2020, Riley Willman, “Ana”, in Rapids Review (Anoka Ramsey Community College)

verbTo run fast, often by a specified amount.

  • Don't rely on that clock: it gains.

nounThe act of gaining; acquisition.

  • People are more willing to take a risk to avoid a loss than to make a gain.
  • When power is sought primarily for private gain, the social fabric decays and unravels.2023 June 25, Charles Hugh Smith, The Corruption of POTUS, SCOTUS and SCROTUS

More sentences with gain

  • With that said, the group hitting their legs just once a week still made gains.From the entry hit
  • People are less willing to take a risk to make a gain than to avoid a loss.From the entry loss
  • I gained three passes at A-level, in mathematics, French, and English literature.From the entry pass
  • The TV programme was cancelled because it only gained a 10% share of that night's viewing audience.From the entry share
  • The resolution, which speedily passed the Senate, was unable to gain a majority in the lower chamber.From the entry chamber
  • John was eliminated as a contestant when it was found he had gained, rather than lost, weight.From the entry eliminate
  • Kasparov sacked his queen early on in the game to gain a positional advantage against Kramnik.From the entry sac
  • Kasparov's queen sac early in the game gained him a positional advantage against Kramnik.From the entry sac
  • That shady trickster faked being a psychic advisor to spread misinformation and gain profit.From the entry trickster
  • He considered exerting his influence on John to gain an advantage for himself.From the entry exert
  • The effective radiated power is determined by multiplying the transmitter power output with the antenna gain.From the entry effective
  • We cannot trust him not to lie for his own gain: he's an opportunist and a pragmatist.From the entry pragmatist
  • Since making its debut two years ago, the program has gained cult status.From the entry debut
  • The charity gained plenty of recognition for its efforts, but little money.From the entry recognition
  • This follows some heady gains in hourly wages for retail workers.From the entry heady
  • Going forward we plan to leverage our core competencies to gain market share.From the entry going forward
  • You can't expect to eat desserts left and right and not gain weight.From the entry left and right
  • With leptogenic drugs, he lost the weight he gained because of his treatment.From the entry leptogenic
  • We have had our address used by scurrilous crooks in the past to gain assets by fraud.From the entry scurrilous
  • They gained just enough on that play to move the sticks and continue the drive.From the entry the sticks
  • I cannot abandon my husband for the sake of self-interest and personal gain.From the entry self-interest
  • After the layoffs, he gained a reputation as a hatchet man and ended up eating lunches alone.From the entry hatchet man
  • We're old friends, so once we started talking, the evening gained an air of conviviality.From the entry conviviality
  • Smith's hardline approach to drugs gained him the support of many local citizens.From the entry hardline
  • He was a prosecutor before entering private practice and gaining a reputation as a legal beagle.From the entry legal beagle
  • The company was delighted to be namechecked in the lyrics, gaining exposure to potential new consumers.From the entry namecheck
  • "France is the mother of Conscription. What has she gained by that blood-tax?"From the entry blood tax
  • No matter how hard I try, I don't seem to be gaining ground.From the entry gain ground

Meaning of gain

  1. verb To acquire possession of.
  2. verb To have or receive advantage or profit; to acquire gain; to grow rich; to advance in interest, health, or happiness; to make progress.
  3. verb To come off winner or victor in; to be successful in; to obtain by competition.

Full definition of gain

Questions about gain in a sentence

How do you use gain in a sentence?
Gain is used as a verb, noun and preposition. For example: “Looks like you’ve gained a new friend.”
What is a short sentence with gain?
“I’ve been gaining.”
What does gain mean?
Gain means to acquire possession of.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gain (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 gain in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/gain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.