win
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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to finish first in a race, contest, or the like.
My story won in the short fiction category.
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to gain the victory; overcome an adversary.
The home team won.
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to succeed by striving or effort.
He applied for a scholarship and won.
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Slang. to be successful or competent and be acknowledged for it.
My sister wins at finding the best bargains.
verb (used with object)
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to gain (a prize, fame, etc.).
She won a million dollars in the lottery.
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to be victorious or successful in (a game, race, battle, etc.).
The Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series two years in a row.
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to obtain or earn (a point or goal); score.
You win 10 bonus points if you play all your cards in the same turn.
Our team won two goals in the first five minutes!
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to get by effort, as through labor, competition, or conquest.
He won his post after years of striving.
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to gain (favor, love, consent, etc.), as by qualities or influence.
You will win the kids’ respect if you take them seriously.
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to gain the favor, regard, or adherence of.
The candidate won younger voters with his proposal on tuition aid.
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to gain the consent or support of; persuade (often followed byover ).
The speech won them over to our side.
- Synonyms:
- sway, influence, induce, convince, bring around
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to succeed in reaching (a place, condition, etc.), especially by great effort.
They won the shore through a violent storm.
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to persuade to marry; gain in marriage.
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British Mining.
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to obtain (ore, coal, etc.).
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to prepare (a vein, bed, mine, etc.) for working, by means of shafts or the like.
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noun
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wins
plural
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a victory, as in a game or horse race.
The Flames have had only two wins in the whole season.
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the position of the competitor who comes in first in a horse race, harness race, etc.
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Slang.
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a success, or something good.
She was having a bad week, so she really needed a win.
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the state or quality of being successful or good.
There was so much win in last night’s episode!
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adjective
interjection
verb phrase
idioms
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win the internet. internet.
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win one's way, to advance or succeed, as by ability or effort.
The battalion won its way at great cost.
Your original ideas have won their way in a field where it is difficult to say anything new.
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for the win, (used to express enthusiasm for someone or something that is very good, likely to succeed, etc.).
A plant-based diet, for the win!
verb (used with object)
verb
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(intr) to achieve first place in a competition
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(tr) to gain or receive (a prize, first place, etc) in a competition
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(tr) to succeed in or gain (something) with an effort
we won recognition
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to achieve recognition in some field of endeavour
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history to be knighted
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to gain victory or triumph in (a battle, argument, etc)
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(tr) to earn or procure (a living, etc) by work
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(tr) to take possession of, esp violently; capture
the Germans never won Leningrad
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to reach with difficulty (a desired condition or position) or become free, loose, etc, with effort
the boat won the shore
the boat won through to the shore
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(tr) to turn someone into (a supporter, enemy, etc)
you have just won an ally
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(tr) to gain (the sympathy, loyalty, etc) of someone
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(tr) to obtain (a woman, etc) in marriage
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(tr)
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to extract (ore, coal, etc) from a mine
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to extract (metal or other minerals) from ore
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to discover and make (a mineral deposit) accessible for mining
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informal an expression of resignation after an unsuccessful attempt to overcome difficulties
noun
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informal a success, victory, or triumph
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profit; winnings
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the act or fact of reaching the finishing line or post first
verb
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to dry (grain, hay, peat, etc) by exposure to sun and air
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a less common word for winnow
Synonym Usage
See gain 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of win1
First recorded before 900; Middle English verb winnen, win(ne) “to strive, exert effort,” Old English winnan “to labor, work, fight, bear”; cognate with German gewinnen, Old Norse vinna, Gothic winnan
Origin of win2
First recorded in 1550–60; etymology uncertain; perhaps variant of winnow
Vocabulary lists containing win
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.
See Examples For:
England's innings win comes with the context of a desperate performance from Pakistan, so any judgements on progress should be reserved for now.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
With two outs in the 10th, Kiké Hernández on third and Kyle Tucker on first, the second baseman hit a walk-off single against Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Gregory Soto, earning the Dodgers a 5-4 win.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Babar's team beat West Indies in Trinidad earlier this month to earn a 1-1 series draw, yet that was Pakistan's first Test win away from home in more than three years.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Bishop Gorman’s Maximiliano Fuentes clinched the win with a 49-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
And then you told him you’re going to use it to try to win a contest.”
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
“Defense wins games, but our offense won this one.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Carlos Irving Quintana, a slim 14-year-old with purple hair, wins cheers of approval with his enactment of the iconic "Siuuu" leap of Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo when he scores a goal.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
A 33rd stoppage triumph, in what would be Serrano's 50th professional victory, would give her the most knockout wins in women's boxing history, eclipsing pioneer Christy Martin.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Traders set odds by themselves by betting against each other on outcomes from elections to interest rates to the weather, and the platform earns a fee on the trade, not on who wins.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
Whenever Erin wins she says something like, “Ah, too bad, Mr. McManus. Maybe next time, old-timer.”
From "Boy21" by Matthew Quick
Yes, suh, I winned; w'y, at de finish I come down dat track lak hit was de Jedgment Day an' I was de las' one up!
From The heart of happy hollow A collection of stories by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Why, whut you spec' I's doin' hyeah ef I hadn' winned?
From The heart of happy hollow A collection of stories by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Why, it wur enough to set up housekeepin wi—and thee only winned twenty-five, Tom; why thic winnin were a heavy loss I think.”
From The Humourous Story of Farmer Bumpkin's Lawsuit by Richard Harris
“Ah, we winned the lawsuit; didn’t us, sir?”
From The Humourous Story of Farmer Bumpkin's Lawsuit by Richard Harris
If I winned I was goin' to buy Delaney's café.
From Heart of the West [Annotated] by Joseph E. Loewenstein
It must have felt like winning the lottery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
England's crushing victory over Pakistan is their seventh consecutive win in Leeds, their longest current winning streak at any ground in the world.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Nine accounts on the platform Polymarket made millions on U.S. military actions in Iran, winning nearly all of their 80 wagers on U.S. strikes and ceasefire negotiations.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026
Silver futures, also on a three-week winning streak, rose even more.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
If I couldn’t pass the Lincoln simulation, I didn’t have a shot of winning a sim test.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
In 2011, “The Artist,” a delightful dialogue-free black-and-white feature, won Oscars for best picture, best director and best actor.
From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2026
Carroll won back-to-back national championships, seven straight conference championships and four Rose Bowls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
It was his hard work that won the ball back for Arsenal's opening goal and his cross was palmed into Saka for the second.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
In 2021, Meghan won a High Court ruling against the Mail on Sunday after the paper published excerpts from a private letter she had written to her estranged father in 2019.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Then I seal up the cracks between my boundaries and feel like I’ve won.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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.
