Word.ws English Dictionary

gets the better of

gets the better of is the third-person singular simple present indicative of get the better of.

Meaning of get the better of

Verb

get the better of (third-person singular simple present gets the better of, present participle getting the better of, simple past got the better of, past participle (UK) got the better of or (US) gotten the better of)

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To overwhelm or overcome.
    • Adam said, "My temper got the better of me, and I said things as wasn't true."1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter 28, in Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    defeat, overpower, better
  2. (idiomatic, transitive) To trick or con.
    • I won't let you get the best of me
      How'd my heart become my enemy?
      I won't let you get the best of me
      How'd my heart become my enemy?2015 May 12, Rachel Platten, Dave Bassett, Brian West, “Beating Me Up”, in Fight Song, performed by Rachel Platten
  3. (idiomatic, transitive) To gain an advantage over or regarding.
    • He got the better of him early in the match, but ended up losing.

Questions about gets the better of

What is gets the better of the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Gets the better of is the third-person singular simple present indicative of get the better of.

Words near gets the better of in the dictionary

  1. gets sturdy
  2. gets taken in
  3. gets the ball rolling
  4. gets the band back together
  5. gets the best of
  6. gets the better of
  7. gets the bird
  8. gets the boot
  9. gets the bulge on
  10. gets the bullet
  11. gets the chop

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gets the better of (page history and authors); get the better of (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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Cite this entry: “gets the better of.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gets_the_better_of. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.