Word.ws English Dictionary

having the best of it

having the best of it is the present participle and gerund of have the best of it.

Meaning of have the best of it

Verb

have the best of it (third-person singular simple present has the best of it, present participle having the best of it, simple past and past participle had the best of it)

  1. To gain the advantage in a contest.

Questions about having the best of it

What is having the best of it the present participle and gerund of?
Having the best of it is the present participle and gerund of have the best of it.

Words near having the best of it in the dictionary

  1. having something over someone
  2. having something over with
  3. having something to show for something
  4. having the advantage of someone
  5. having the ball in one's court
  6. having the best of it
  7. having the biscuit
  8. having the blues
  9. having the cards
  10. having the cards in one's hands
  11. having the dirts with

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: having the best of it (page history and authors); have the best of it (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: “having the best of it.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/having_the_best_of_it. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.