the advantage of

the advantage of (something)

A favorable attribute, especially in comparison to other similar people or things. I think I'm the strongest candidate for the job, especially since I have the advantage of my extensive student teaching experience. She's always had the advantage of her mother's vast wealth and influence.
See also: advantage, of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

*the advantage of someone

 and *the advantage over someone
; *an advantage over someone; *the advantage over someone; *the edge on someone; *the edge over someone a position superior to that of someone else; a status wherein one controls or has superiority or authority over someone else. (*Typically: get ~; give someone ~; have ~.) She'd gotten an advantage over me at the start of the competition. I got an edge on Sally, too, and she came in second.
See also: advantage, of
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • the advantage of (something)
  • old enough to be (one's) mother
  • old enough to be mother
  • not (all) that good/bad/well/poor/etc.
  • not all that good, well, etc.
  • everything's roses
  • twilight
  • twilight years
  • one's sunset years
  • sunset years
References in classic literature
And will you take it upon yourself to define with perfect accuracy in what the advantage of man consists?
Notes from the Underground
Above all others, men of genius and learning shared the principal place in his favour; and in these he had much discernment: for though he had missed the advantage of a learned education, yet, being blest with vast natural abilities, he had so well profited by a vigorous though late application to letters, and by much conversation with men of eminence in this way, that he was himself a very competent judge in most kinds of literature.
Among others of this kind was Dr Blifil, a gentleman who had the misfortune of losing the advantage of great talents by the obstinacy of a father, who would breed him to a profession he disliked.
The History of Tom Jones a Foundling
No naturalist doubts the advantage of what has been called the 'physiological division of labour;' hence we may believe that it would be advantageous to a plant to produce stamens alone in one flower or on one whole plant, and pistils alone in another flower or on another plant.
The Origin of Species
The State governments will have the advantage of the Federal government, whether we compare them in respect to the immediate dependence of the one on the other; to the weight of personal influence which each side will possess; to the powers respectively vested in them; to the predilection and probable support of the people; to the disposition and faculty of resisting and frustrating the measures of each other.
Compare the members of the three great departments of the thirteen States, excluding from the judiciary department the justices of peace, with the members of the corresponding departments of the single government of the Union; compare the militia officers of three millions of people with the military and marine officers of any establishment which is within the compass of probability, or, I may add, of possibility, and in this view alone, we may pronounce the advantage of the States to be decisive.
Federalist Papers Authored by James Madison
To be sure, it would have been more for the advantage of conversation had Miss Lydia Bennet come upon the town; or, as the happiest alternative, been secluded from the world, in some distant farmhouse.
It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both: by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved; and from his judgement, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance.
Pride and Prejudice
If they cannot do this, they ought at least to prove to us that it is easier to subvert the liberties of three millions of people, with the advantage of local governments to head their opposition, than of two hundred thousand people who are destitute of that advantage.
Federalist Papers Authored by Alexander Hamilton
I am speaking, as before, of injustice on a large scale in which the advantage of the unjust is more apparent; and my meaning will be most clearly seen if we turn to that highest form of injustice in which the criminal is the happiest of men, and the sufferers or those who refuse to do injustice are the most miserable--that is to say tyranny, which by fraud and force takes away the property of others, not little by little but wholesale; comprehending in one, things sacred as well as profane, private and public; for which acts of wrong, if he were detected perpetrating any one of them singly, he would be punished and incur great disgrace-- they who do such wrong in particular cases are called robbers of temples, and man-stealers and burglars and swindlers and thieves.
Republic
Home advantage in sport: An overview of studies on the advantage of playing at home.
Home advantage and crowd size in soccer: a worldwide study
Carriers have the advantage of market presence in every home that gets a phone bill, and they have been providing that service for years.
All for one: traditional telephone companies and cable TV operators are competing for the same customers. Only one can win
The advantage of this design compared to the flat-ended insert is that the projected-end can reach farther into the casting to draw the heat out more effectively.
Water or air? Examining permanent mold cooling methods
The advantage of this type of DAFS client implementation is that applications can use it transparently, just like other remote file system implementations (NFS, AFS, DFS for Unix, CIFS for WinNT/Win2k).
DAFS: Enabling Data Center Applications
The advantage of the screen changer is that it makes it possible to change screens without opening the head and, depending on the profile dimension and speed, possibly also without interrupting the profile, thus creating a flaw.
Continuous production of rubber profiles