better

(bĕt'ər)
adj. Comparative of good.

1. Greater in excellence or higher in quality.
2. More useful, suitable, or desirable: found a better way to go; a suit with a better fit than that one.
3. More highly skilled or adept: I am better at math than English.
4. Greater or larger: argued for the better part of an hour.
5. More advantageous or favorable; improved: a better chance of success.
6. Healthier or more fit than before: The patient is better today.

adv. Comparative of well².

1. In a more excellent way.
2. 1. To a greater extent or degree: better suited to the job; likes it better without sauce.
   2. To greater advantage; preferably: a deed better left undone. See Usage Note at best, have, rather.
3. More: It took me better than a year to recover.

n.

1. One that is greater in excellence or higher in quality.
2. A superior, as in standing, competence, or intelligence. Usually used in the plural: to learn from one's betters.

v., -tered, -ter·ing, -ters.

v.tr.

1. To make better; improve: trying to better conditions in the prison; bettered myself by changing jobs. See synonyms at improve.
2. To surpass or exceed.

v.intr.
To become better.

idioms:

better off

1. In a better or more prosperous condition: would be better off taking the train instead of driving; felt better off after the rise in stock prices.

for the better

1. Resulting in or aiming at an improvement: Her condition took a turn for the better.

get (or have) the better of

1. To outdo or outwit; defeat.

think better of

1. To change one's mind about (a course of action) after reconsideration: I almost bought an expensive watch, but then I thought better of it.

[Middle English, from Old English betera.]

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1.
had better.
This common idiom is used in the form We had better go home or We'd better go home; the negative form is We'd better not go home and the interrogative Hadn't we better go home?. Informally (but not in more formal contexts), the word had is sometimes omitted: We better go home; and in the second person (as an imperative) the preceding pronoun is omitted too:

When you're feeling censorious, better ask yourself which you'd choose—P. D. James, 1986.

2.
better, bettor.
In the meaning 'one who bets', bettor is more common in American English, and better in British English. Bettor has the advantage of being distinct from the comparative of good, although their distinct uses keep them out of each other's way.

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• Comparisons

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See words rhyming with "better."

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