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Synonyms

go one better

Idioms  

  1. Outdo or surpass someone, as in He went one better than his teacher and came up with five more famous scientists. This expression originated in gambling games, where it meant “to offer a higher stake than one's opponent.” [Mid-1800s]

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.

Austria's Johannes Aigner will be out to retain his title in the visually impaired event but Italian Giacomo Bertagnolli is the world champion and aiming to go one better than Beijing, where he won silver.

From BBC • Mar. 4, 2026

He took bronze at Pyeongchang 2018 and silver in Beijing four years ago and is hoping to go one better at the Milan-Cortina Games.

From Barron's • Feb. 11, 2026

Sadowski-Synnott, who won big air bronze in Pyeongchang in 2018 and silver in Beijing, was looking to go one better at the Milan-Cortina Games.

From Barron's • Feb. 9, 2026

"For now, despite a slightly slow start, the signs are promising that it will go one better than Game of Thrones, and deliver a send-off that lives up to audience expectations," he said.

From BBC • Nov. 27, 2025

The Earl of Etheldune has seven; we had to go one better than him, sir.

From Plays of Near & Far by Dunsany, Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Baron

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.