DictionaryAI

advise

verb
uhd-VYZ/ədˈvaɪz/

Formsadvises, advising, advised

Often confused with advice

8 meanings of advise

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To give advice to someone; to offer an opinion you think is worth following.

    Financial experts advise clients to spread their money across different investments.

    Her lawyer advised her against signing the agreement so quickly.

    Similarcounsel, warn

    Note

    Behind this verb of counsel is a verb of seeing. Middle English avisen meant 'to perceive, consider, inform,' and it came through Old French aviser from Latin videō, 'to see.' To advise was first to look and weigh, and then to say what you saw. Its usual frame names the person and the action: the dentist advised me to brush. Spell the verb with s; the noun is advice, with c.

  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To recommend a course of action; to put something forward as advice.

    Experts advise caution when handling the chemicals without gloves.

    The manual advised regular maintenance to extend the machine's life.

    Similarrecommend, urge, suggest, counsel

    Note

    Here the object is the course of action, not the person who should take it. You advise brushing, caution or regular maintenance, and the recommendation itself is a noun or an -ing form. Once a listener is named, the action shifts into an infinitive, as in advised me to brush. That frame belongs to the counseling sense.

  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    To formally inform or notify someone, especially through official communication.

    We advise customers of any change to their account terms.

    The airline advised passengers of the delay by text message.

    Similarinform, tell, notify, apprise, acquaint

    Note

    The official sense belongs to notices, letters and briefings. What is communicated comes after of (we were advised of the risk) or in a that-clause. Marco Rubio, quoted in 2025, said 'Israel advised us that' it believed the action necessary. Inform and notify are its near neighbors. Advise adds formality, and it sits comfortably in the passive.

  4. 4
    verbformaltransitive
    To provide a sovereign or head of state with information they have requested.

    Senior ministers advise the monarch on questions of national security.

    The privy council advised the queen on the proposed appointments.

    Similarcounsel, brief

    Note

    Court and constitutional usage, defined by who asked first: the sovereign requested the information, and the speaker is answering. It takes the person addressed and a that-clause: 'Empress, I advise you that your audience… is in 15 minutes.' Inform, set against it, is the plain word for telling someone something unasked. Compare the official 'notify' sense, which needs no request.

  5. 5
    verbtransitive
    To issue a ruling after formally postponing judgment in a case for further consideration.

    The court will advise the cause once the judges have completed their review.

    The bench advised the petition after a lengthy period of consideration.

    Note

    Scots law gives the verb a precise procedural meaning. When a court has reserved a cause for private deliberation, it has taken it to avizandum. To advise the cause is to come back and deliver the judgment. The object is the case or petition, and the judges are the ones advising. Nothing is being recommended to anyone.

  6. 6
    verbintransitive
    To consider a matter carefully; to deliberate.

    The board members advise at length before issuing any ruling.

    The two ministers advised privately before announcing the decision.

    Similardeliberate, confer, consult

    Note

    Advice turned inward: this is thinking a matter over, and it takes of rather than a direct object. In Thomas Carlyle's Past and Present (1843), the King is 'advising of it for a moment' and then orders Samson brought in. The sense keeps Middle English avisen's meaning 'consider.' Read it as 'pondering,' not as counsel given to someone.

Less common meanings

  1. 7
    verbobsoleteintransitive
    To consult or confer with another person.

    Prudent merchants advise with their partners before any large purchase.

    The armies drawing constantly nearer to each other, the king advised with his council, whether he should march against the Britons, or sall upon the count of Gharolois.
    1746, Charles Pinot Duclos, The history of Lewis xi. king of France. Transl
    Note

    Counsel taken rather than given: to advise with someone was to confer with them. The 1746 English translation of Charles Pinot Duclos's The history of Lewis xi. king of France has the king, with armies closing in, advising 'with his council' about where to march. The use is obsolete. Today consult or confer does this work, and advise takes its listener as a direct object.

  2. 8
    verbobsoletetransitive
    To look at, watch, or catch sight of something.
    Note

    Here the verb sits nearest the Latin 'to see' traced under the counseling verb: it simply means to catch sight of. Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590) spells it auiz'd. In 'when that villain he auiz'd,' the knight spots the villain and turns on him in fury. The sense is obsolete, so in older verse read it as 'saw,' never 'counseled.'

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of advise apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

It comes from Middle English "avisen" (to perceive, consider, inform), from Old French "aviser," ultimately traced back to Latin "videō" ("to see"). It is related to the word "advice."