meaning and usage of the word "exploit"

[u/savheav]

i found the word i cant understand... even after ai explanation. i found it in this sentence: Jason enjoys shocking people with his exploits.
Im sure it has negative meaning because this sentence is about a disobedient child who lives his promiscuous life. And i guess its related to the words,,flaunt,, or,,brag,,

[u/Nameless_American]

Just gonna chime in because no-one has mentioned it but “exploit” (the noun) and “exploit” (the verb) are pronounced differently in terms of stress: EX-ploit versus ex-PLOIT.

You may notice this pattern in other such pairs!

[u/jarry1250]

An "exploit" (noun) is something that you have done, something you have achieved - a story you can tell. They can be positive, like climbing a mountain, or negative, like getting into trouble at school.

[u/TrueStoriesIpromise]

In this usage "exploits" is like "adventures", especially of a mischievous, daring, immoral, or possibly illegal nature.

Examples of exploits:

* seducing a woman in a bar

* toilet-papering a house

* tipping over a portable toilet (porta-potty) with someone inside it

* jumping a motorcycle over a moving train or a small valley

[u/tmahfan117]

You’re on the right track, in this context “exploits” is a noun that means like “heroic deeds” or “bold, adventurous, or notable achievements.”

So to use it in another example: the adventurer almost died on his most recent exploit 

[u/baxbakualanuxsiwae]

An exploit in this noun sense is an adventure/escapade/something someone "got up to". It's not necessarily negative, though it's generally used to describe something out of the ordinary that someone did, and that can often be misbehaviour of some kind. It's often used to describe an extraordinary achievement, like climbing a mountain or winning a battle.

[u/PHOEBU5 → u/baxbakualanuxsiwae]

Depending on the context, "exploits" can also be used as a euphemism in a similar way to ""adventures". To a friend, "I saw you going off with those girls at the party on Friday. Tell me about any exploits you got up to."

[u/Colamancer]

It has two primary meanings to me. In your sentence an "exploit" is like an "adventuresome series of actions". You might describe an ancient adventurer as going on a wild exploit into the unknown wilderness, or discuss the exploits of conquistadors in South America. Likeways in modern day you could describe any abnormal series of actions, like setting up pranks or something, as exploits. I think what matters is that the actions involved are deliberate and out of the ordinary, possibly adventurous.

There's also another use of exploit which means "to abuse an advantage". Loggers may exploit their environment, and gamers use it to describe exploiting bugs or unfair equipment in video games. To me this is the morn common usage, but probably because I'm in the online gaming space. You should know both!

[u/Ok_Caterpillar2010]

Exploits are remarkable and exciting things you've done. They could be remarkable and exciting good things or bad things.

In this case, Jason is shocking people with his. Shocking makes me think they're bad (he stole paintings from art musuems?) but it's still possible people are shocked just because they didn't expect such adventurous things from Jason (he's a quiet accountant, but he skydived into the Grand Canyon).

[u/TheMadGent]

As a noun, an exploit is a deed, especially one that is daring. It does not have a negative connotation necessarily, I’d most associate it with swashbuckling adventure.

It’s also a slang term in gaming and hacker culture, meaning a method of gaining unintended advantage. “The players took advantage of an exploit allowing them to duplicate high-level items.” This does have a fairly negative connotation.

[u/frostysnowmen]

I find it hard to describe but the sentence you gave is about a child. So using a more grown up kind of word like ‘exploit’ with what he’s doing sounds a bit sarcastic.

[u/Basic-Technology-592]

1. ⁠[Noun] An achievement, adventure, or feat, typically adventerous or mischevious in nature.
   
2. ⁠[Noun] (computers) When talking about software, an exploit is a vulnerability of a system or program that a hacker would seek to take advantage of.
   
3. ⁠[Verb] To take advantage of something. To use the vulnerability of something for evil purposes. It has a negative connotation.

[u/ActuaLogic]

As a noun, an exploit is something that shows one's prowess. It may be a bit of military daring-do, it may be a computer hack, and so forth.

[u/Book_Slut_90]

As others have said, in this context it means something like adventures. Though since you mentioned promiscuity it can also refer to having sex with a lot of people especially in interesting or unusual ways (that wouldn’t fit if you’re actually talking about a child, but neither would describing a child as promiscuous, so maybe you meant a young person or something).

[u/francksiduo]

Exploits here just means his notable or daring deeds, not necessarily bad ones. a war hero has exploits too. it reads negative in your sentence because of shocking and disobedient sitting right next to it, the word itself just leans toward bold or reckless action. flaunt and brag are about how he talks about it, exploits are the actual things he did

[u/conuly]

Im sure it has negative meaning because this sentence is about a disobedient child who lives his promiscuous life.

Promiscuous implies sexual activity. It is not a word I'd use for a child. Even if I meant somebody's adult child I would not use the word "child" to describe them - I'd call them a teenager, an adolescent, a young man, but not a child.

[u/Constant_Hope_9658]

the verb essentially means "to make use of", but has a negative connotation (cause commie influence on the language).

the noun is mostly just a vulnerability and/or cheat.

but it'll vary by context and the list I'm giving is neither exhaustive or absolute (because infinite dialects in a vibes based language like English does that)