From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgain groundgain groundMORE THAN BEFOREto make steady progress and become more popular, more successful etc The anti-smoking lobby has steadily gained ground in the last decade. → gain
Examples from the Corpus
gain ground• The fierce campaign by several anti-Maastricht movements has been gaining ground.• Dole feels that Forbes is gaining ground.• The idea that environmental issues are also religious issues is gaining ground among churches in the U.S.• For once, the index gained ground despite a decline in shares of Vodafone, the market's biggest stock.• In the currency markets, the dollar gained ground in Japan and Europe.• Stock prices gained ground in late trading today.• an approach which is gaining ground in schools• The trend gained ground in the United States, where early symphony audiences ached to exude social refinement.• He was gaining ground on all of them, he had the beating of them yet.• Martin also gained ground on Gordon, finishing sixth and moving within 87 points.• Laurent died in 1853, but his ideas slowly gained ground over the next ten years.• Evangelical Christianity has been gaining ground since the Second World War.• Nationalism has gained ground to the extent that it has begun to claim mainstream status.gain groundgain grounda) ADVANTAGEto become more successful It was feared that the extreme right would gain ground in the election. b) RIGHT/PROPERif an idea, belief etc gains ground, more people start to accept it His theories gradually gained ground among academics. c) to get closer to someone or something that you are competing with → groundExamples from the Corpus
gain ground• Martin also gained ground on Gordon, finishing sixth and moving within 87 points.• The fierce campaign by several anti-Maastricht movements has been gaining ground.• Nationalism has gained ground to the extent that it has begun to claim mainstream status.• For once, the index gained ground despite a decline in shares of Vodafone, the market's biggest stock.• Dole feels that Forbes is gaining ground.• The trend gained ground in the United States, where early symphony audiences ached to exude social refinement.• He was gaining ground on all of them, he had the beating of them yet. 