0 to get something that is useful, that gives you an advantage, or that is in some way positive, especially over a period of time:
The thieves gained entrance through an upstairs window that was left open.
The data exists all right - the difficulty is in gaining access to it.
She's certainly gained (in) confidence over the last couple of years.
From the late 19th century, European powers began to gain control of parts of the Ottoman Empire.
After you've gained some experience teaching abroad, you can come home and get a job.
[ + two objects ] It was her performances in Aida that gained her an international reputation as a soprano.
Alternative medicine has only just started to gain respectability in our society.
The mayor has gained a lot of support from the teacher's union.
2 If a clock or watch gains, it works too quickly and shows a time that is later than the real time:
5 to obtain something useful, advantageous, or positive:
They all gained some position of status, never mind how, sufficient to win the respect of the general public.
For example, if the claimant suffered no loss, must wrongfully acquired gains be disbursed?
For example, if students who pick harder stories make greater gains in reading, which is cause and which is effect?
First, how do the opportunities for private gain differ in different electoral systems?
But they also are found to encourage too much agricultural production and too little timber production to maximize gains from economic development.
These gains in private technical efficiency raise social costs as the technological resource stock externality is exacerbated.
The thermal mass in superinsulated housing is not able to store all this solar energy, so the useful solar gains are greatly reduced.
As the stimulus became larger, more long-range axons were recruited into the collective oscillation, thereby increasing the gain of the feedback circuit.
