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best Definition

best (best)

adjective

  1. good
  2. of the most excellent sort; surpassing all others
  3. most suitable, most desirable, most favorable, most profitable, etc.
  4. being almost the whole; largest it took the best part of an hour

Etymology: ME best, betst < OE betst (akin to Goth batists) < ? IE base *bhad-, good > Sans bhadrá-ḥ, fortunate, good

adverb

  1. well
  2. in the most excellent manner; in the most suitable way
  3. in the highest degree; to the greatest extent; most

noun

  1. people of the highest worth, ability, or reputation among the best in his profession
  2. the thing, condition, circumstance, action, etc. that is most excellent, most suitable, etc.
  3. the most one can do; utmost to do one's best
  4. advantage to get the best of an opponent
  5. one's finest clothes

transitive verb

to win out over; defeat or outdo

best Idioms

all for the best

turning out to be good or fortunate after all

as best one can

as well as one can

at best

  1. under the most favorable conditions or interpretation
  2. at most

at one's best

in one's best mood, form, health, etc.

get the best of

or have the best of
  1. to outdo, overcome, or defeat
  2. to outwit

had best

ought to; would be prudent or wise to

make the best of

to do as well as one can with

with the best

as ably as the most able

best Synonyms

best

n.

first, favorite, choice, finest, top, pick, prime, flower, cream, elite, crème de la crème (French), utmost, salt of the earth*, pick of the crop*, cream of the crop*, tops*.

all for the best

favorable, fortunate, advantageous; see helpful 1, hopeful 2.

as best one can

skillfully, ably, capably, as well as one can; see well 2.

at best

at most, under the most favorable conditions, under the most favorable circumstances, according to the most favorable interpretation, at the outside*.

at one's best

well, in one's prime, at the top of one's form, in one's best mood; see able 2, healthy 1.

get <strong>or </strong>have the best of<strong>

outdo, overcome, defeat, outwit; see defeat 1, 2, 3, surpass, win 1.

make the best of

tolerate, get by, manage, make do; see endure 2.

with the best

excellently, well, ably; see excellently, well 2.

best Synonyms

best

v.

worst, get the better of, overcome, outdo; see defeat 1, 2, 3, surpass.

best Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • gain: Hannah Sergeant gained personal bests in the long jump and shot to finish eighth with 1,701 points.

Preposition: in

  • jump: Hannah Sergeant gained personal bests in the long jump and shot to finish eighth with 1,701 points.

Adjective modifier

  • personal: This was a good day to shoot and lots of personal bests where shot.
  • new: And there were new personal bests for Beesley, Nick Crawford ( 60m and triple jump ), Langowski, Jones and Pierpoint.

Noun used with modifier

  • season: In the circumstances the four girls were heroic with pbs throughout for Nicola and Gemma and seasons bests for Jessica and Janine.
best Quotes

Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles. All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.

—Voltaire pseudonym of  Fran c° ois Marie Arouet

Always to be best, and to be distinguished above the rest.

—Homer   8c

And the best and the worst of this is That neither is most to blame If you have forgotten my kisses And I have forgotten your name.

—Swinburne, Algernon Charles

Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

Wisdom denotes the pursuing of the best ends by the best means.

—Hutcheson, Francis

Ship me somewhere east of Suez, where the best is like the worst, Where there aren't noTen Commandments an'a man can raise a thirst.

—Kipling, (Joseph) Rudyard

Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made: Our times are in His hand Who saith,'A whole I planned, Youth shows but half; trust God: See all nor be afraid!'

—Browning, Robert

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. SeeAchebe 2:18.

—Yeats,W(illiam) B(utler)

If the best minds in the world had set out to find us the worst possible location in the world to fight this damnable war, politically and militarily, the unanimous choice would have been Korea. Adams

—Acheson, Dean Gooderham

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.

—Cabell,James Branch

Next tobeing right inthis world, thebest of all things isto be clearly and definitely wrong. If you go buzzing about between right and wrong, vibrating and fluctuating, you come out nowhere; but if you are absolutelyand thoroughlyand persistently wrong you must, some of these days, have the extreme good fortune of knocking yourheadagainstafact, andthat setsyouallstraightagain.

—Huxley,T(homas) H(enry)

All the nice people were poor; at least, that was a general axiom, the best of the rich being poor in spirit.

—Spark, Dame Muriel Sarah ne¤  e  Camberg

The best that an American can look forward to is the lonely pleasure of one who stands at long last on a chilly and inhospitable mountain top where few have been, where few can follow, and where few will consent to believe that he has been.

—Kennan, George Frost

Culture, the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus with the history of the human spirit.

—Arnold, Matthew

I am bound by my own definition of criticism: a disinterested endeavour to learn and propagate the best that is known and thought in the world.

—Arnold, Matthew

Best thing in eird,I say for me, Is merry hart with small possessioun.

—Henryson, Robert

But as to risings, I can tell you why. It is on contradiction that they grow. It seemed the best thing to be up and go. Up was the heartening and the strong reply. The heart of standing is we cannot fly.

—Empson, Sir William

'It's always best on these occasions to do what the mob do.' 'But suppose there are two mobs?'suggested Mr Snodgrass.'Shout with the largest,'replied Mr Pickwick.

—Dickens, CharlesJohn Huffam

Good, to forgive; Best, to forget! Living, we fret; Dying, we live.

—Browning, Robert

Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.

—Sarnoff, David

Experience shows that great enterprises seldom end with a tidy and satisfactory flourish. Together, we are doingourbesttore-establishpeaceand civil order inthe Gulf region, and to help those members of civil and ethnic minorities who continuetosuffer through no fault oftheirown.If wesucceed,ourmilitarysuccesswill have achieved its true objective.

—Elizabeth II

We will do our best to reward your faith in us, but please give us the opportunity to serve our country, that is all we ask.

—Smith,John

   When things go wrong and will not come right, Though you do the best you can, When life looks black as the hour of nightö

—Myles na Gopaleen

Drinking the best tea in the world in an empty cricket groundöthat, I think, is the final pleasure left to man.

—Snow, C(harles) P(ercy), 1st Baron

The English, the English, the English are best! I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest!

—Flanagan, Bud stage name of Robert Winthrop

Over the piano was printed a notice: 'Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best.'

—Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'FlahertieWills

Take short views, hope for the best, and trust in God.

—Smith, Rev Sydney

It is best to live anyhow, as one may; do not be afraid of marriage with your mother! Many have lain with their mothers in dreams too. It is he to whom such things are nothing who puts up with life best.

—Sophocles

My name is Death: the last best friend am I.

—Southey, Robert

If we live inside a bad joke, it is up to us to learn, at best and worst, to tell it well.

—Raban,Jonathan

Only mediocrity can be trusted to be always at its best.

—Beerbohm, Sir (Henry) Max(imilian)

Mother Knows Best.

—Ferber, Edna

Farewell, sweet phrases, lovely metaphors: But will ye leave me thus? when ye before Of stews and brothels only knew the doors, Then did I wash you with my tears, and more, Brought you to church well-dressed and clad: My God must have my best, even all I had.

—Herbert, George

Never to have lived is best, ancient writers say; Never to have drawn the breath of life, never to have looked into the eye of day; The second best's a gay goodnight and quickly turn away.

—Yeats,W(illiam) B(utler)

Some experience of popular lecturing had convinced me that the necessity of making things plain to uninstructed people was one of the very best means of clearing up the obscure corners in one's own mind.

—Huxley,T(homas) H(enry)

Of course in nature the only ending is death, but death hardly ever happens when people are at their best. That is why we like tragedies. They show men energetically with their wits about them and deserving to do it.

—Gray, AlasdairJames

Poetry is a record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

It is always easy to find fault with a classification. There are a hundred ways of arranging any set of objects, and something mayalmost always be said against the best, and in favour of the worst of them. But the merits of a classification depend on the purposes to which it is instrumental.

—Mill,John Stuart

He serves his party best who serves his country best.

—Hayes,J Milton

That action is best, which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers. See Bentham 77:65.

—Hutcheson, Francis

Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien. The best is the enemy of the good.

—Voltaire pseudonym of  Fran c° ois Marie Arouet

The best is the best, though a hundred judges have declared it so.

—Quiller-Couch, SirArthurThomas known as  'Q'

Prose = words in their best order;öpoetry = the best words in the best order.

—Coleridge, Samuel Taylor

   Only two classes of books are of universal appeal. The very best and the very worst.

—Ford, Ford Madox originally Ford Hermann Hueffer

What America does best is to understand itself.What it does worst is to understand others.

—Fuentes, Carlos

Why not the best?

—Carter,Jimmy (James Earl)