get the worst of it

Idioms  

1. Also, have the worst of it. Be defeated, experience a disadvantage, or suffer the most harm. For example, In any argument Joe usually gets the worst of it, or If we play the last three games as scheduled, our team is bound to have the worst of it, or The car got the worst of it, and no one was hurt. These phrases survive many older ones (such as go to the worst and come by the worst) in which worst is used in the sense of “defeat,” a usage dating from about 1500. Also see get the better (best) of.

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Example Sentences

Consumers, he adds, "get the worst of it".

From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026

But what parts of the country will get the worst of it?

From Seattle Times • Nov. 13, 2023

Matt Jones’s elbow had turned numb by the time the game ended, and he didn’t even get the worst of it.

From Washington Post • Mar. 9, 2016

In the paragraphs that follow, the recipient’s alleged lovers get the worst of it.

From New York Times • Nov. 11, 2014

But if you don’t fight, well, you’ll get the worst of it anyhow.

From The Blue Grass Seminary Girls' Vacation Adventures Shirley Willing to the Rescue by Burnett, Carolyn Judson