Word.ws English Dictionary

be no match for

be no match for verb: to be outmatched by; to be much weaker, less capable, or less desirable than.

Verb

be no match for (third-person singular simple present is no match for, present participle being no match for, simple past was no match for, past participle been no match for)

  1. (idiomatic) To be outmatched by; to be much weaker, less capable, or less desirable than.
    • King William number four, I guess, would be no match for him as an orator – he'd talk him out of sight in half an hour.1887, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Sam Slick, the Clockmaker, page 10
    • I am. no match for a physician in any matters connected with his pursuits, nor would the physician be a match for me in a legal argument .1870, Representative and leading men of the Pacific, page 329

Forms of be no match for

third-person singular presentis no match for
present participlebeing no match for
pastwas no match for
past participlebeen no match for

Questions about be no match for

What does be no match for mean?
Be no match for means to be outmatched by; to be much weaker, less capable, or less desirable than.
What part of speech is be no match for?
Be no match for is a verb.
What is the past tense of be no match for?
The past tense of be no match for is was no match for.

Words near be no match for in the dictionary

  1. be lost to the four winds
  2. be mother
  3. be mum
  4. be my guest
  5. be no exception
  6. be no match for
  7. be no stranger to
  8. be not to know
  9. be off with you
  10. be on
  11. be on at

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: be no match for (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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