Word.ws English Dictionary

known better

known better is the past participle of know better.

Meaning of know better

Verb

know better (third-person singular simple present knows better, present participle knowing better, simple past knew better, past participle known better)

  1. (set phrase) To recognize that a statement or belief is false or doubtful.
    • 'Do you think, sir,' said Mr Willet, […] 'do you think, sir, that I'm a born fool?'
      'No, no, Johnny,' returned Solomon, looking round upon the little circle of which he formed a part: 'We all know better than that.'1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 54.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC
  2. (set phrase) To understand that certain behavior is wrongful, futile, or inappropriate.
    • "All that happened when he was eight; he's older now and knows better."1919, H. H. Munro, “Hyacinth”, in The Toys of Peace and Other Papers
    Synonyms:
    know any better

Questions about known better

What is known better the past participle of?
Known better is the past participle of know better.

Words near known better in the dictionary

  1. known any better
  2. known B from a battledore
  3. known back to front
  4. known ball
  5. known beans about
  6. known better
  7. known every trick in the book
  8. known fine well
  9. known from a bar of soap
  10. known full well
  11. known how many beans make five

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: known better (page history and authors); know 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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Cite this entry: “known better.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/known_better. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.