Word.ws English Dictionary

got the better of

got the better of is the past participle of get the better of.

got the better of is the simple past 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 got the better of

What is got the better of the past participle of?
Got the better of is the past participle of get the better of.

Words near got the better of in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: got 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: “got the better of.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/got_the_better_of. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.