benefits

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of benefit.

   The program's benefits became clear within the first year.

   Employees compared the benefits offered by each company.

   Note

   One spelling, several plurals. It can count advantages, payments made under an insurance policy or a public scheme, or fund-raising performances, so context decides which is meant. The phrase for the benefit of keeps the singular, since it names an intended audience rather than something counted. The same spelling is also the verb's present form, as in a policy that benefits workers. A determiner or adjective in front usually marks the noun.

2. 2
   noun

   Financial support provided by the government to those in need, such as the unemployed, elderly, or disabled.

   After losing his job, he applied for benefits to cover his rent.

   The reforms cut benefits for thousands of low-income households.

   Similarwelfare

   Note

   The welfare sense often comes in the phrase on benefits, which treats state support as a condition someone lives in rather than a sum received. David Walliams's Ratburger (2012) has a father who "had been on benefits for years." Unlike the ordinary plural, which counts separate advantages or payments, the plural here names the whole system of support, which is why it pairs so naturally with on.

3. 3
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of benefit.

   Daily reading benefits a child's vocabulary.

   The new policy benefits remote workers.

   Note

   The verb runs in two directions, and the preposition shows which. With a direct object, the subject does the helping: daily reading benefits a child. With from, the subject is the one helped: a child benefits from daily reading. Either way, the -s appears only with a singular third-person subject. After a modal or a plural subject, the bare benefit returns.

   She benefits from the extra tutoring.

   The town benefits from tourism every summer.

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