Etimology
a- + head. Perhaps originally a nautical term, "beyond the head (of a ship)", then drifting into more general English usage where it is used to describe something as being "in front of".
adverb
ahead (not comparable)
At or towards the front; in the direction one is facing or moving.
So as to be further advanced, either spatially or in an abstract sense.
In or for the future.
To a later time.
At an earlier time; beforehand; in advance.
To an earlier time.
Examples
The island was directly ahead.
Just ahead you can see the cliffs.
Keep going straight ahead.
He finished two laps ahead of me.
In all of his classes Jack was ahead.
There may be tough times ahead.
You've got to think ahead so as not to be unprepared.
Set the clock ahead an hour.
Push the deadline ahead a day, from the 20th to the 21st.
Then the customer would set a rebidding deadline ahead a month - for example from September 1 to October 1 - and give everybody four weeks to submit […]
When we saw that wasn't working in 1976, we moved the deadline ahead to 1978.
He paid his rent ahead.
Push the deadline ahead a day, from the 21st to the 20th.
[…] committees in Congress hae a March 15 deadline for reporting their "views and estimates" to the budget committees. The Senate Republican leadership, eager to get a jump on the annual budget process, moved the deadline ahead to March 1 for Senate committees.
[…] the Department is responding to the statutory requirement in the USA Patriot Act that moved the deadline ahead to 2003 from 2007.
Related words
antonyms
(nautical) astern
behind
hyponyms
straight ahead
related terms
ahead of