better than
Idioms-
Superior to, as in He's no better than Tom at writing a memo . [9th century]
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More than, larger in amount or greater in rate, as in My new car can do better than 100 miles an hour , or The new plan will cut better than 15 percent of costs . Some authorities consider this usage colloquial and advise that it be avoided in formal writing. [Late 1500s] Also see better half , def. 1.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“You could take any person off of the street and they would be better than this total jerk. Thank goodness he’s finally gone!”
From Salon • May 27, 2026
“But come on, man, a Jack Russell terrier on a raft? Does it get better than that? I don’t know.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2026
The jobs were often easy to get, required little training and generally paid better than retail and fast-food jobs.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026
“Agentic AI is a structural tailwind that will force consumers to get the latest and greatest Apple device because it will work better than other brands.”
From Barron's • May 26, 2026
Watching them, I understood what I’d spent so much time trying to ignore: being alone was better than being with people who didn’t care if I existed.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
