better
Part of speech: adj
noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
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).
Inflected forms:
form: good
pos: adj
tags: positive
form: well
pos: adj
tags: adverb
form: betterer
pos: adj
tags: comparative
humorous
form: best
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: betterest
pos: adj
tags: humorous
form: betters
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Greater in amount or quantity
pos: adj
examples: “The air was still with the lonely thrill of 'now the hour is near'
 And the smell of sweat was better yet than the awful stench of fear.”
gloss: Greater or lesser (whichever is seen as more advantageous), in reference to value, distance, time, etc.
pos: adj
examples: The top electric vehicles have a range of 300 kilometres or better.
Only one swimmer finished the race with a time better than two minutes.
gloss: Healed or recovered from an injury or illness.
pos: adj
examples: We can't go to the zoo today because you're sick; let's go when you're all better.
gloss: An entity, usually animate, deemed superior to another; one who has a claim to precedence; a superior.
pos: noun
examples: He quickly found Ali his better in the ring.
Their betters would hardly be found.
gloss: Had better.
pos: verb
tags: auxiliary
colloquial
modal
examples: It's getting late. You better get on home.
Nobody better hurt any of my kids.
Nothing better've happened to the guitar I lent you!
Derived words: against one's better judgment
all to the better
an ounce of prevention is better than an ounce of cure
an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure
are you feeling better
better and better
better an egg today than a hen tomorrow
better angels
better angels of one's nature
better angels of someone's nature
better ball
better Dead than Red
better dead than red
better dead than Red
better for it
betterfy
better half
betterhood
betterish
better is the enemy of good
better-known
better known as
better late than never
better light
better luck next time
better nature
betterness
better off
better one word in time than two afterwards
better-paid
better part of
better place
better safe than sorry
bettership
bettersome
better than a kick in the teeth
better than a poke in the eye
better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick
better than a poke in the eye with a rusty nail
better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick
better than a poke in the eye with a shitty stick
better than nothing
better than sex
better the devil you know than the devil you don't
better the devil you know than the devil you don't know
better the devil you know than the one you don't
better the devil you know than the one you don't know
better to be late than be dead on time
better to light a candle than to curse the darkness
better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness
better to light one candle than to curse the darkness
better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness
build a better mousetrap
build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door
discretion is the better part of valor
discretion is the better part of valour
do someone one better
embetter
for better or for worse
for better or worse
for the better
get better
go one better
half a loaf is better than no bread
half a loaf is better than no loaf
half a loaf is better than none
have seen better days
I couldn't have said it better myself
it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive
it's better to ask forgiveness than permission
it's better to be judged by twelve than to be carried by six
know any better
know better
make a better door than a window
no better than one ought to be
prevention is better than cure
something is better than nothing
so much the better
strictly better
take a turn for the better
the better is the enemy of the good
the devil we know is better than the devil we don't
the devil we know is better than the devil we don't know
the devil you know is better than the devil you don't
the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know
the fewer the better fare
the grey mare is the better horse
think better of
two heads are better than one
work better under pressure
you better believe it
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