Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In a more excellent way or manner: as, to behave better; the land is better cultivated and the government better administered.
  • In a superior degree: as, to know a man better than some one else knows him.
  • More, without any idea of superior excellence: as, it is better than a mile to the town.
  • noun One who lays bets or wagers. Also bettor.
  • To make better; improve; ameliorate; increase the good qualities of; as, manure betters land; discipline may better the morals.
  • To improve upon; surpass; exceed; outdo.
  • To advance the interest of; support; give advantage to.
  • Synonyms Amend, Improve, Better, etc. (see amend), meliorate, promote.
  • To grow better; become better; improve: as, his condition is bettering.
  • As comparative of good: Of superior quality or excellence, whether personal, physical, mental, moral, or social, essential or acquired: as, he is a better man than his brother; better times are at hand; a better position.
  • Of superior value, use, fitness, acceptableness, etc.; more profitable or suitable for a purpose; more useful, eligible, or desirable: as, copper is a better conductor than iron.
  • Larger; greater: as, the better part of a day was spent in shopping.
  • As comparative of well: More in accordance with one's wish or desire; more satisfactory.
  • More healthy; having sounder health.
  • More just, right, or proper.
  • To be quite well again; be fully recovered.
  • noun That which has superior excellence; that which is better.
  • noun A superior; one who has a claim to precedence on account of rank, age, merit, skill, power, or office: as, give place to your betters.
  • noun Advantage; superiority; victory: chiefly in the phrases to get, gain, or have the better of (a person or thing).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Advantage, superiority, or victory; -- usually with of.
  • noun One who has a claim to precedence; a superior, as in merit, social standing, etc.; -- usually in the plural.
  • noun in the way of improvement; so as to produce improvement.
  • intransitive verb To become better; to improve.
  • noun One who bets or lays a wager.
  • adjective Having good qualities in a greater degree than another.
  • adjective Preferable in regard to rank, value, use, fitness, acceptableness, safety, or in any other respect.
  • adjective Greater in amount; larger; more.
  • adjective Improved in health; less affected with disease.
  • adjective More advanced; more perfect.
  • adjective See under All, adv.
  • adjective an expression used to designate one's wife.
  • adjective to be in a better condition.
  • adjective (See under Had).
  • In a superior or more excellent manner; with more skill and wisdom, courage, virtue, advantage, or success.
  • More correctly or thoroughly.
  • In a higher or greater degree; more.
  • colloq. More, in reference to value, distance, time, etc..
  • to have a more favorable opinion of any one.
  • to reconsider and alter one's decision.
  • transitive verb To improve or ameliorate; to increase the good qualities of.
  • transitive verb To improve the condition of, morally, physically, financially, socially, or otherwise.
  • transitive verb To surpass in excellence; to exceed; to excel.
  • transitive verb obsolete To give advantage to; to support; to advance the interest of.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Alternative spelling of bettor.
  • adjective comparative form of good or well: more good or well
  • adverb comparative form of well: more well
  • verb transitive To improve.
  • verb Had better.
  • noun An entity, usually animate, deemed superior to another.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (comparative of `good') changed for the better in health or fitness

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Alternate pronunciation of bettor or modern formation from the verb to bet.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English better, bettre, from Old English betera ("better"), from Proto-Germanic *batizô (“better”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhAd- (“good”). Cognate with Sanskrit  (bhadrá, "blessed, fortunate, happy, good"). For Germanic cognates: see Proto-Germanic *batizô. Verb is from Middle English beteren, from Old English beterian ("to make better, improve"). Related to best. Compare also Icelandic batna ("to improve"), Icelandic bót ("improvement"). More at batten, boot.

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Examples

  • 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.

    Who Loses From Efficiency?, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • 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.

    Karl Popper Thornton, Stephen 2009

  • 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).

    POLITICS, ON THE POEM'S OWN TERMS 2007

  • 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).

    Archive 2007-10-01 2007

  • People are better than their creeds, and, it should seem, sometimes _better_ than _their_ principles.

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 348 Various

  • 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?

    The Genius Margaret Horton Potter

  • Bright knew his Englishmen better than Lowell did, —better than England did.

    Eccentricity (1863) 1918

  • The idealists planned and strove and shouted that their city should become a better, better, and better city—and 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!

    Chapter 28 1918

  • 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 Writer, Volume VI, April 1892. A Monthly Magazine to Interest and Help All Literary Workers Various 1904

  • "You were Peter Grimm," she said, "before you knew better" -- that's what _they_ call leaving _this_ world -- "_to know better_."

    The Return of Peter Grimm David Belasco 1892

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