exploit

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   use or manipulate to one's advantage

   I exploit the new taxation system.

2. 2
   verb

   work excessively hard

   The professor in charge of the lab is exploiting the students.

3. 3
   noun

   A heroic or extraordinary deed.

   Hieronimo, it greatly pleaſeth vs, / That in our victorie thou haue a ſhare, / By vertue of thy vvorthy Sonnes exployt.

4. 4
   noun

   An achievement.

   The first trek to the summit of Mount Everest was a stunning exploit.

5. 5
   noun

   A program or technique that takes advantage of a vulnerability in other software.

   One of the more publicized cases that involved a zero-day exploit concerned the compromise of some U.S. military web servers. The attack involved exploiting a buffer overflow vulnerability in a core Windows component; […]

6. 6
   verb

   To use (something) to someone's advantage, such as one's own benefit or a society's benefit.

   to exploit natural resources in a sustainable way

7. 7
   verb

   To make unfair use of someone else's labor, person, or property to one's own advantage.

   Materialistic people who exploit others will come to a bad end.

8. 8
   noun

   a notable achievement

Etymology

From Old French esploit (noun), esploitier (verb).