benefited

Benefited is the simple past tense and past participle of the verb benefit. It denotes that something has produced a positive effect or advantage for someone or something, or that someone has gained an advantage. As a transitive verb, benefited means to cause a positive outcome for a person, group, or situation. As an intransitive verb, it can take the preposition from to indicate the source of the advantage, as in “The community benefited from the new policy.” The past participle is used with auxiliary verbs to form perfect tenses, such as “has benefited” or “had benefited.”

Spelling and variations are a notable aspect of the word. In American English, the past tense and past participle are typically spelled benefited, with a single t. In British English, benefitted with a double t is also encountered and accepted in many contexts. Both forms appear in dictionaries, and the choice often reflects regional conventions rather than a difference in meaning.

Etymology traces benefited to the noun benefit, which comes from Old French benefice or benefite and ultimately from Latin beneficium, from bene meaning well and facere meaning to do. The verb sense of benefit emerged in Early Modern English and acquired its current uses: describing advantages conferred by actions, policies, or circumstances, and describing gains experienced by individuals or groups.

Related terms include benefit (noun or verb), beneficiary (one who benefits), and beneficial (providing benefit). Benefited should be distinguished from related forms when discussing grammar and regional spelling preferences.

See also: benefit, beneficiary, beneficial.