better
IPA: bˈɛtɝ
noun
- An entity, usually animate, deemed superior to another; one who has a claim to precedence; a superior.
- Alternative spelling of bettor [A person who makes a bet, such as a wager on the outcome of a game of chance or a sporting event.]
verb
- (modal, auxiliary verb, colloquial) Had better.
- (transitive) To improve.
- (intransitive) To become better; to improve.
- (transitive) To surpass in excellence; to exceed; to excel.
- (transitive) To give advantage to; to support; to advance the interest of.
adjective
- Greater in amount or quantity
- Greater or lesser (whichever is seen as more advantageous), in reference to value, distance, time, etc.
- Healed or recovered from an injury or illness.
adverb
- (colloquial shortening) Had better.
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Examples of "better" in Sentences
- The simpler the better is usually the best.
- The better crafted the criteria, the better.
- Generally, the better the terminology, the better the content.
- The better a company's solvency, the better it is financially.
- The better the team, the better recognition of the instructor.
- It is far better to creatively work out the best wording in each field.
- Convection increased and the outflow of the storm became better defined.
- Bright knew his Englishmen better than Lowell did, better than England did.
- The best is the clean clinical finding 5 months is much better than neonatal.
- As an ichthyologist and an editor, I try my best to make some articles better.
- People are better than their creeds, and, it should seem, sometimes _better_ than _their_ principles.
- Together they stabilize soil aggregates, building a better soil habitat, improving soil structure, tilth and productivity.
- "You were Peter Grimm," she said, "before you knew better" -- that's what _they_ call leaving _this_ world -- "_to know better_."
- We would do better to say: _more_ is often _better_ , but _most_ is rarely _best_ , especially if we fail to measure everything together, tangible and intangible alike.
- Were they, after all, with all their muddy color and uncertain composition, better -- actually _better_, in the fundamentals that count, than those two glorified forms that ruled the room?
- Popper held, that even if a theory t2 with a higher content than a rival theory t1 is subsequently falsified, it can still legitimately be regarded as a better theory than t1, and ˜better™ is here now understood to mean t2 is closer to the truth than t1.
- Most of the contemporary "political poetry" I've read remain mired in authorial biography (granted, it could be a function of my reading habit) -- they were writ primarily to make the authors feel better (by *feel better*, it includes ranting against abuse).
- First, _Know what you want to say_; second, _Say it_; third, _Use your own language_; fourth, _Leave out all the fine passages_; fifth, _A short word is better than a long one_; sixth, _The fewer words, other things being equal, the better_; finally, _Cut it to pieces_.
- The idealists planned and strove and shouted that their city should become a better, better, and better cityand what they meant, when they used the word better, was more prosperous, and the core of their idealism was this: The more prosperous my beloved city, the more prosperous beloved I!
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