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• better-off
  better-off

  adjective

  being in better circumstances, especially economically.
• better off
  better off

  In a more favorable position or financial circumstances. For example, They were better off flying than driving there, or They were better off than most of their neighbors. This phrase is the comparative form of well off. [Mid-1800s]

better-off

American  

[bet-er-awf, -of] / ˈbɛt ərˈɔf, -ˈɒf /

adjective

1. being in better circumstances, especially economically.

   Only the better-off nations can afford to send probes into space.

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better off Idioms  

1. In a more favorable position or financial circumstances. For example, They were better off flying than driving there, or They were better off than most of their neighbors. This phrase is the comparative form of well off. [Mid-1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of better-off

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

better-off better off

"Sometimes, if medicines are leftover from the baby of a better-off family, we use it for the babies whose families cannot afford it," Fatima says.

From BBC ● May 18, 2026

These retailers are aggressively courting better-off customers at the same time that their traditional customers are cutting back due to inflation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026

Bankers interpret this as a sign that slightly better-off consumers are absorbing the higher prices, while lower-income customers are increasingly cutting back or seeking cheaper alternatives.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 8, 2026

It’s not to drag the relatively better-off down to the bottom, but to allow more people to pull themselves up.

From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2025

South Shore hadn’t yet tilted the way other neighborhoods had—with the better-off people long departed for the suburbs, the neighborhood businesses closing one by one, the blight setting in—but the tilt was clearly beginning.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

From the get-go, Beutner said he was concerned that some school systems would misuse the new arts money — leaving students no better off than before in terms of arts education.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

Fat tissue is often viewed as something the body would be better off without.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026

Some people who can afford to invest their Social Security benefits wonder whether they’d be better off claiming early and investing their checks in the stock market.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026

But for public confidence, “we would be better off with an enforcement mechanism,” she said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

We need to respect the fact that it is possible to know without knowing why we know and accept that—sometimes—we’re better off that way.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell