Word.ws English Dictionary

had better

had better verb: should; ought to; need to; must.

Verb

had better

  1. (idiomatic, informal, with infinitive) Should; ought to; need to; must.
    • You had better finish that homework on time, if you want to get a good grade.
    • “Will we get it finished?” / “We had better.”
    Synonyms:
    had best

Synonyms of had better

Forms of had better

alternative form'd better
alternative formbetter

Origin of had better

See better (adverb)

Questions about had better

What does had better mean?
Had better means should; ought to; need to; must.
What part of speech is had better?
Had better is a verb.

Words near had better in the dictionary

  1. had at
  2. had bats in one's belfry
  3. had been around
  4. had been around the block
  5. had best
  6. had better
  7. had blood on one's hands
  8. had butterflies in one's stomach
  9. had designs on
  10. had done with
  11. had down

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: had better (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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