better
[ˈbɛtʰ.ə] adjective, noun, verb
Also a form of bettor good well
Forms good well betterer best betterest betters bettering bettered
- adjective Greater in amount or quantity
- adjective Greater or lesser (whichever is seen as more advantageous), in reference to value, distance, time, etc. “The top electric vehicles have a range of 300 kilometres or better.”
- adjective Healed or recovered from an injury or illness. “We can't go to the zoo today because you're sick; let's go when you're all better.”
- noun An entity, usually animate, deemed superior to another; one who has a claim to precedence; a superior. “He quickly found Ali his better in the ring.”
- verb (modal, auxiliary verb, colloquial) Had better. “It's getting late. You better get on home.”
- verb (transitive) To improve. “attempts to better the lot of the refugees”
- verb (intransitive) To become better; to improve.
- verb (transitive) To surpass in excellence; to exceed; to excel; to improve on. “He summed the whole thing up in a way that I couldn't possibly better.”
- verb (transitive) To give advantage to; to support; to advance the interest of.
Synonyms
top bettor wagerer punter break improve amend ameliorate meliorate best
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English better, bettre, betre, from Old English betera (“better”), from Proto-West Germanic *batiʀō, from Proto-Germanic *batizô (“better”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰed-rós, from *bʰed- (“good”).
Cognate with Dutch beter, German besser, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål bedre, Norwegian Nynorsk betre, Swedish bättre, Faroese and Icelandic betri. Also Sanskrit भ॒द्र (bhadrá, “blessed; fortunate; happy; good”) (from *bʰn̥d-ró-s). Related to best and battle (“getting better; improving; fruitful; fertile”). Compare also Icelandic batna (“to improve”), bót (“improvement”), German besser. More at batten, boot.
False cognate of Persian بهتر (behtar).
Shortening of had better ('d better).
From Middle English beteren, from Old English beterian, betrian, from Proto-Germanic *batizōną. Cognate with West Frisian betterje (“to better”), Dutch beteren (“to better”), German bessern (“to better”), Danish bedre (“to better”), Swedish bättra (“to better”).
Alternative spelling of bettor or modern formation from the verb to bet + -er.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Having good qualities in a greater degree than another; as, a better man; a better physician; a better house; a better air. Could make the worse appear The better reason. Milton.
- adjective Preferable in regard to rank, value, use, fitness, acceptableness, safety, or in any other respect.
- noun Advantage, superiority, or victory; --usually with of; as, to get the better of an enemy.
- noun One who has a claim to precedence; a superior, as in merit, social standing, etc.; --usually in the plural.
Etymology [OE. betere, bettre, and as adv. bet, AS. betera, adj., and bet, adv.; akin to Icel. betri, adj., betr, adv., Goth. batiza, adj., OHG. bezziro, adj., baz, adv., G. besser, adj. and adv., bass, adv., E. boot, and prob. to Skr. bhadra excellent. See Boot advantage, and cf. Best, Batful.]
Etymology [AS. beterian, betrian, fr. betera better. See Better, a.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “better”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details