Word.ws English Dictionary

getting the better of

getting the better of is the present participle 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 getting the better of

What is getting the better of the present participle of?
Getting the better of is the present participle of get the better of.

Words near getting the better of in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: getting 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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “getting the better of.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/getting_the_better_of. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.