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:
And yet, in a 3-1 win, it was the home run ball, paired with a masterful performance on the mound from right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, that secured the victory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
"After my suspension period ends, I will be available, as I always have been, to compete and win with our national team," he added.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
University of Ottawa law professor Errol Mendes told AFP that, hours after the PQ win, "the challenge to Canadian unity was small."
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
If we back up, you can’t generalize with every single race that the nonincumbent is going to win.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026
“Or you bet on who’s going to win the World Series, which you already know because—duh!—you’re from the future,” Chip said.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Chisora has 36 wins in 50 fights and defended his decision to continue fighting.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
The company indicated that the $80 billion figure is based on Marvell’s analysis of “design wins already won,” Stifel analyst Tore Svanberg told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
These Chargers have 13 games left, and identifying potential wins on the remaining schedule is a nearly impossible task.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
Since 1998, teams with payrolls in the top five have averaged 89 wins a year, 13 more than teams in the bottom 10.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
It is a battle against a tireless enemy in which man never actually wins; the most that he can hope for is not to be defeated, she reads, before closing her eyes.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
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
If I winned I was goin' to buy Delaney's café.
From Heart of the West [Annotated] by Joseph E. Loewenstein
“Ah, we winned the lawsuit; didn’t us, sir?”
From The Humourous Story of Farmer Bumpkin's Lawsuit by Richard Harris
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
Glad to hear tell as your greyhound winned the cup down to Newton coursing.”
From Children of the Mist by Eden Phillpotts
The states soon landed the first blow, winning the temporary restraining order.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
The singer and songwriter needed inspiration after winning best new artist at the Grammy Awards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
South Korea captain Lee Gi-hyuk has apologised for gloating about avoiding mandatory military service after winning gold at the Asian Games.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
She raised her hands to halt the point toward the end of a lengthy rally, just before Sun returned a volley that could have put her just two points shy of winning the first set.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
"The vision is not clear about the winning part."
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
"Campaigns are won at the end by momentum," said Joseph Robinson, an engineer who attended the Avila fish-market event in Tampa.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Analysts were looking for a bigger jump to 1.028 trillion won for the quarter, according to a FactSet-compiled consensus estimate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
They made just three signings in the summer and retained most of their squad from last season when they won a first WSL title in a decade.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
It fell short of a majority in Quebec's 127-seat parliament and won only 28 percent of the popular vote.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
"In the old days," Don Quixote had said, "knights won islands and kingdoms. They gave them to their squires to govern. I plan to do the same with you, Sancho, if you become my squire."
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
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.
