best
verb/best/
/best/
[usually passive] (formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they best | /best/ /best/ |
| he / she / it bests | /bests/ /bests/ |
| past simple bested | /ˈbestɪd/ /ˈbestɪd/ |
| past participle bested | /ˈbestɪd/ /ˈbestɪd/ |
| -ing form besting | /ˈbestɪŋ/ /ˈbestɪŋ/ |
- to defeat or be more successful than somebody
- be bested (by somebody) He was determined not to be bested by his old rival.
- A great colonial power was nearly bested by a few farmers.
Word OriginOld English betest (adjective), betost, betst (adverb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German best, also to better.Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
Check pronunciation:
best