exploit

Formsexploits, exploiting, exploited

Pluralexploits

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To make unfair use of another person's labor, body, or property for one's own gain.

   Factory owners exploited the workers, demanding long shifts for tiny wages.

   Traffickers exploit vulnerable migrants who have nowhere else to turn.

   Similarabuse, manipulate, misuse

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To use something to advantage, whether for one's own benefit or for the good of a wider community.

   The company exploited new technology to cut production costs dramatically.

   Engineers exploit wind and sunlight to generate clean power for the city.

   Similaruse, utilize

   Note

   The neutral, even approving use: to exploit natural resources in a sustainable way is to put them to good work. Tony Miles and Philip Sherratt write in Modern Railways (2019) of exploiting new trains' 110mph capability. Utilize and take advantage of are close synonyms. When the object is a resource or a capability, readers hear this sense. When the object is people, they hear the sense of unfair use.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A bold, daring, or extraordinary deed worthy of note.

   The climber's exploit on the north face drew worldwide attention.

   Tales of their wartime exploits filled the old man's memoir.

   Similarfeat, deed, adventure, escapade

   Note

   The oldest strand of the word. English took both the Old French noun esploit and the verb esploitier, so the deed and the act of using something share one spelling. Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedie (c. 1587) spells it exployt and uses it for a son's worthy deed in battle, one that wins his father a share in the victory. The word still carries that heroic weight when it means a deed.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A notable accomplishment or feat that reflects skill or effort.

   Landing the contract was the firm's biggest exploit of the year.

   Her academic exploits earned her a full scholarship.

   Similarfeat, accomplishment, achievement, triumph, success

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A program or technique that takes advantage of a vulnerability in software to compromise it.

   Security researchers published an exploit that bypassed the login screen entirely.

   Several exploits targeting the outdated server appeared online within hours.

   Note

   A security term whose grammar tracks its verb. An attacker exploits a vulnerability, and the code or method that does it is an exploit. The noun takes modifiers that name the flaw or the target, as in a zero-day exploit or PDF exploits. Rob Shein's Zero-Day Exploit (2004) uses both forms in one breath: a zero-day exploit that worked by exploiting a buffer overflow in a core Windows component.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A technique that takes advantage of a flaw or quirk in a video game to gain an unfair edge or to hinder other players.

   Players discovered an exploit that let them clip straight through solid walls.

   The developers patched several exploits right after the tournament ended.

   Note

   Gamers borrowed this from the software-attack sense and widened it. Here nothing needs to be broken into. The player uses the game's own conditions, such as a quirk of movement or a gap in the rules, to get ahead or to hinder others. It names a technique rather than a program, and it belongs to Internet and gaming talk more than to security work.

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