better
adjective · verb · noun
Form of good , comparative of good.
Simple meaning
Greater or lesser, in reference to value, distance.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
behterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɛtɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Greater or lesser (whichever is seen as more advantageous), in reference to value, distance, time, etc.
Greater in amount or quantity
Healed or recovered from an injury or illness.
verb
Get better
To make better
intransitive
To become better; to improve.
transitive
To surpass in excellence; to exceed; to excel.
transitive
To give advantage to; to support; to advance the interest of.
noun
An entity, usually animate, deemed superior to another; one who has a claim to precedence; a superior.
A person who makes a bet, such as a wager on the outcome of a game of chance or a sporting event.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Greater or lesser (whichever is seen as more advantageous), in reference to value, distance, time, etc.
Used this way, better is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A person's partner in marriage.
Win a victory over.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A change for the better.
The ratio by which one better's wager is greater than that of another.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: get better
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What Does It Mean Here?
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.