Difference between "advantage" and "benefit"?

Question

From Webster:

advantage:

• something (such as a good position or condition) that helps to make someone or something better or more likely to succeed than others
• a good or desirable quality or feature
• benefit or gain

benefit:

• a good or helpful result or effect
• money that is paid by a company (such as an insurance company) or by a government when someone dies, becomes sick, stops working, etc.
• something extra (such as vacation time or health insurance) that is given by an employer to workers in addition to their regular pay

It seems same to me. My professor use benefit more, some website use advantage more, is two of them same? or which one is more official?

Answer 1

Benefits are generally gifts or results.

Examples:

The company gives you benefits for working there, and if you do really well, you'll be given a bonus as a benefit.

If you go through with this plan, it could benefit some people.

We're holding a benefit concert, the proceeds from ticket sales will go to benefit children in hospitals.

Advantages, which can include some benefits, are not always gifts.

Examples:

One advantage to this plan is that it doesn't cost as much money.

He had many advantages from birth, being the son of an accomplished and rich business man, growing up with the future captains of industry, that propelled him to create something great.

The battle turned and pushed Don Quixote uphill, and he cried out "Now I have the advantage! I have the upper ground!" He proceeded to fight his way back down the hill.

Answer 2

A note, in addition to the existing answers.

Taking advantage of someone has a negative connotation to it, based on the situation.

But there usually isn't that negative side when getting benefits from someone.

Answer 3

An organization can get advantages from female workers by discriminating in salary and paying lower range than male which is unethical. Here, in this case, we can't say the organization is getting benefit from the female workers. Another organization has applied women empower policy and giving first priority to female workers for over time work where they get 1.5 times more wages than their normal salaries. The organization also provides special training to female with male to increase productivity. In this case, female workers are benefited from the organization and the organization is also getting benefit from female workers with higher productivity.

Answer 4

Benefit can be used as a verb whereas advantage isn't typically used as a verb.

The money benefits me greatly.

The money was an advantage.

The money was a benefit.

I would also say benefit probably tends more often to refer to an item or something similarly concrete, whereas advantage is appropriate if you are talking about a place, situation, or ability. But there is no hard/fast rule.

Benefit has a meaning of things besides pay a company uses to compensate you for work, such as "medical benefits". It can also mean a government payment, such as "social security benefit." Advantage never means that.

Answer 5

I think there is comparative meaning in there in ligal terminology likely ‘ entrest been using in criminal libelty .

Answer 6

What I've come to understand is that advantage is a relative term. It is, advantage over something. There need to be comparison to mention advantage. While benefit is something which is free of comparison. It's like, you'll get this benefit which was not available to you before..