at best

Idioms  

1. Under the most favorable circumstances, as in At best we'll be just one week behind schedule, or Cleaning out the attic is a tedious job at best. This idiom, formerly also put as at the best, today is most often used in situations that are actually far from ideal, as in the examples above. [First half of 1300s] For an antonym, see at worst.

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Example Sentences

There are good to very good players sprinkled around the team, but the collective is decidedly average, at best, in the rarefied air of a World Cup.

From BBC • Jun. 27, 2026

But they have something else in common: They are all paid sponsorships, either undisclosed as such or, at best, barely labeled in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it manner.

From Slate • Jun. 27, 2026

“We’re here on what I would call a hunch or, at best, a suspicion,” said Brian Perkins, an attorney representing multiple victims in the case.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 26, 2026

Japan Inc. is responding with a frenzy of stock splits, 60 of them in the first quarter of 2026 alone—an imperfect remedy at best.

From Barron's • Jun. 25, 2026

At that time—and in many ways it is still true—the public was given at best a very limited and horribly skewed idea of what nuclear war would be like.

From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen

Related Words

• at least
• partially
• slightly
• somewhat