better

CEFRA1

/ˈbɛt.ə/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Greater in amount or quantity

Examples

  • You're in better shape than I am.

  • I have nothing better to do.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • [ˈbeɾ.ə]
  • [ˈbɛtʰ.ɚ~ˈbɛθ̠.ɚ~ˈbɛt̪.ɚ]

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Greater or lesser (whichever is seen as more advantageous), in reference to value, distance, time, etc.

  2. comparative form of good: more good

  3. comparative degree of good and well

More examples

In context

  • We're hoping for better weather tomorrow.

  • How are you? ~ A little better, thanks.

  • Only one swimmer finished the race with a time better than two minutes.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

After studying hard, she felt blank prepared for the final exam than before.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English better, bettre, betre, from Old English betera (“better”), from Proto-West Germanic *batiʀō, from Proto-Germanic *batizô (“better”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰed-rós, from *bʰed- (“good”). Cognate with Dutch beter, German besser, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål bedre, Norwegian Nynorsk betre, Swedish bättre, Faroese and Icelandic betri. Also Sanskrit भ॒द्र (bhadrá, “blessed; fortunate; happy; good”) (from *bʰn̥d-ró-s). Related to best and battle (“getting better; improving; fruitful; fertile”). Compare also Icelandic batna (“to improve”), bót (“improvement”), German besser. More at batten, boot. False cognate of Persian بهتر (behtar).