benefit: For maximum benefit, use your treatment every day.
merit: The argument seemed to have considerable merit.
advantage: A good crowd will be a definite advantage to me and the rest of the team.
va lue-a dded tax also value added tax N‑UNCOUNT Value-added tax is a tax that is added to the price of goods or services. The abbreviation VAT is also used. [BRIT ]
va lue judg|ment (value judgments ) in BRIT, also use value judgement N‑COUNT If you make a value judgment about something, you form an opinion about it based on your principles and beliefs and not on facts which can be checked or proved. □ [+ about ] Social scientists have grown extremely unwilling to make value judgments about cultures.
value|less /væ ljuːləs/ ADJ If you describe something as valueless , you mean that it is not at all useful. □ Such attitudes are valueless unless they reflect inner cognition and certainty. □ …commercially valueless trees.
valu|er /væ ljuːə r / (valuers ) N‑COUNT A valuer is someone whose job is to estimate the cost or value of something, for example a house, or objects that are going to be sold in an auction. [BRIT ] in AM, use appraiser
va lue sys|tem (value systems ) N‑COUNT The value system of a group of people is the set of beliefs and attitudes that they all share.
valve /væ lv/ (valves )
1 N‑COUNT A valve is a device attached to a pipe or a tube which controls the flow of air or liquid through the pipe or tube.
2 N‑COUNT A valve is a small piece of tissue in your heart or in a vein which controls the flow of blood and keeps it flowing in one direction only. □ He also has problems with a heart valve.
3 → see also safety valve
vamp /væ mp/ (vamps ) N‑COUNT If you describe a woman as a vamp , you mean that she uses her sexual attractiveness to get what she wants from men. [DISAPPROVAL ]
vam|pire /væ mpa I ə r / (vampires ) N‑COUNT A vampire is a creature in legends and horror stories. Vampires are said to come out of graves at night and suck the blood of living people.
va m|pire ba t (vampire bats ) N‑COUNT A vampire bat is a bat from South America which feeds by sucking the blood of other animals.
van ◆◇◇ /væ n/ (vans )
1 N‑COUNT A van is a small or medium-sized road vehicle with one row of seats at the front and a space for carrying goods behind.
2 N‑COUNT A van is a railway carriage, often without windows, which is used to carry luggage, goods, or mail. [BRIT ] □ In the guard's van lay my tin trunk. in AM, use baggage car , boxcar
van|dal /væ nd ə l/ (vandals ) N‑COUNT A vandal is someone who deliberately damages things, especially public property.
van|dal|ise /væ ndəla I z/ → see vandalize
van|dal|ism /væ ndəl I zəm/ N‑UNCOUNT Vandalism is the deliberate damaging of things, especially public property. □ …acts of vandalism.
van|dal|ize /væ ndəla I z/ (vandalizes , vandalizing , vandalized ) in BRIT, also use vandalise VERB If something such as a building or part of a building is vandalized by someone, it is damaged on purpose. □ [be V -ed] The walls had been horribly vandalized with spray paint. □ [V n] About 1,000 rioters vandalized buildings and looted stores.
vane /ve I n/ (vanes )
1 N‑COUNT A vane is a flat blade which pushes or is pushed by wind or water, and forms part of a machine such as a fan, a windmill, or a ship's propeller.
2 → see also weather vane
van|guard /væ ngɑː r d/
1 N‑SING If someone is in the vanguard of something such as a revolution or an area of research, they are involved in the most advanced part of it. You can also refer to the people themselves as the vanguard . □ They are in the vanguard of a movement reshaping the computer industry. □ …the role of the Party as the political vanguard.
2 N‑SING The vanguard of an army is the part of it that goes into battle first. □ [+ of ] They could strike quickly and effectively at the vanguard of an invading army.
va|nil|la /vən I lə/
1 N‑UNCOUNT [usu N n] Vanilla is a flavouring used in ice cream and other sweet food. □ I added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream to the pie.
2 ADJ If you describe a person or thing as vanilla , you mean that they are ordinary, with no special or extra features. □ …just plain vanilla couples like me and Tony.
van|ish /væ n I ʃ/ (vanishes , vanishing , vanished )
1 VERB If someone or something vanishes , they disappear suddenly or in a way that cannot be explained. □ [V ] He just vanished and was never seen again. □ [V + from ] Anne vanished from outside her home last Wednesday. □ [V + into ] The gunmen paused only to cut the wires to the house, then vanished into the countryside.
2 VERB If something such as a species of animal or a tradition vanishes , it stops existing. □ [V ] Near the end of Devonian times, thirty percent of all animal life vanished. □ [V + from ] He does not think that craftsmanship has vanished from our world.
va n|ish|ing point (vanishing points )
1 N‑COUNT [usu sing] The vanishing point is the point in the distance where parallel lines seem to meet. □ The highway stretched out ahead of me until it narrowed to a vanishing point some miles away.
2 N‑UNCOUNT If you say that something has reached vanishing point , you mean it has become very small or unimportant. □ By 1973, this gap had narrowed almost to vanishing point.