gain noun
ADJ. big, considerable, huge, major, real, significant, substantial This change in the tax system will mean big gains for some companies. | modest, small | long-term, short-term | potential | pre-tax | net, overall Labour made an overall gain of 39 seats. | ill-gotten She tucked her ill-gotten gains into her purse and left. | personal, private using the investments for their private gain | commercial, economic, financial, material There will be no financial gain for mothers from this new system. | electoral, political the far right made huge electoral gains | military, territorial | weight She was most upset by her recent weight gain. | efficiency, productivity There is still scope for efficiency gains (= gains to be made by being more efficient).
VERB + GAIN make | bring (sb) Better workplace design can bring real gains in productivity.
PREP. for ~ It's amazing what some people will do for gain. | ~ from £3.9 million gains from the sale of stock | ~ in Last year there was only a modest gain in earnings.
gain verb
ADV. certainly, undoubtedly Consumers have certainly gained from the increased competition in the telecommunications industry. | clearly | quickly, rapidly | gradually, slowly His ideas gradually gained acceptance. | steadily | eventually, finally, ultimately | successfully | automatically Husbands and wives of British nationals do not automatically gain citizenship. | easily
VERB + GAIN stand to The company stands to gain (= is likely to gain) quite a lot from this government scheme. | expect to, hope to What do you hope to gain by this action? | attempt to, seek to, strive to, try to Protesters tried to gain access to the presidential palace. | fail to
PREP. by There is nothing to be gained by forcing people to comply. | from We all gained a lot from the experience.
PHRASES have everything/much/little/a lot/nothing to gain/be gained Why not give it a go? You've nothing to lose and everything to gain. I don't think there's anything to be gained from this course of action.
You can also check other dicts: gain (English, 中文解释 ), wordnet sense, Collins Definition