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 is a long tradition of wealthy, self-funding candidates, and the results are mixed at best.

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2026

But its route to a return that matches its debt-fueled investments in AI computing power is nebulous at best.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 5, 2026

Yet enforcement of firearm relinquishment remains at best inconsistent and at worst nonexistent.

From Slate • Apr. 25, 2026

The pushback there is tepid at best and non-existent at worst.

From Salon • Apr. 24, 2026

Even when technology succeeds in manufacturing a machine as big as Texas to do everything we recognize as human, it will still be, at best, a single individual.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Related Words

• at least
• partially
• slightly
• somewhat