best
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- finest, foremost, leading, most excellent, outstanding, pre-eminent, principal, supreme, unsurpassed
[adverb]
Synonyms:
- most highly, extremely, greatly, most deeply, most fully
[noun]
Synonyms:
- finest, cream, crème de la crème, elite, flower, pick, prime, top

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Antonyms: worst
Related Idioms: cock of the walk, flower of the flock, one in a thousand (or million)
Related Words: gem, nonesuch, nonpareil, exemplar, model, paragon, pattern

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

Best, George
(1946–2005) a football player from Northern Ireland who played for Manchester United from 1963 to 1973 and was considered to be one of the greatest players ever. He was often in the newspapers, photographed with attractive young women, but he also drank too much alcohol, and he stopped playing football when he was still young..

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

I. best¹ S1 W1 /best/ adjective [superlative of good]
[Language: Old English; Origin: betst]

1. better than anything else or anyone else in quality, skill, how effective it is etc:
He won the best actor award.
What’s the best way to cook this fish?
The best thing to do is to stop worrying.
it’s best to do something
It’s best to go later in the season.
easily the best/by far the best (=much better than anything else)
John’s idea is by far the best option.
Our pilots are given the best possible training.
We use only the very best ingredients.

2. best friend the friend that you know and like better than anyone else:
She was my best friend in college.

3. best dress/shoes/clothes etc clothing that you keep for special occasions:
I put on my best suit for the wedding.

4. the next best thing something that is not exactly what you want but is as similar to it as possible:
If sterile equipment isn’t available, the next best thing is to clean equipment with disinfectant.

5. best of all used to introduce the fact about a situation that is even better than the other good things:
It’s clean and well-located, but best of all, it’s affordable.

6. best before British English written on food packets with the date that the food should be eaten before:
Best before 13 July.
a best-before date
⇒ be on your best behaviour at behaviour(2), ⇒ your best bet at bet²(2), ⇒ the best/better part of at part¹(6)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. best² S1 W2 adverb [superlative of well]

1. in a way that is better than any other:
It works best if you let it warm up first.
This can best be described as a series of steps.
the best-dressed man in Paris

2. to the greatest degree Synonym : most:
You know him best – you should ask him.
The part I like best is the meal afterwards.
He’s perhaps best known for his role in ‘Midnight Cowboy’.

3. as best you can spoken as well as you can, even if this is not very good:
I’ll try and fix it as best I can.

4. had best spoken ought to:
We’d best be getting back. ⇒ had better at better²(3)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

III. best³ noun

1. the best
a) the most helpful, most successful etc situation or results that you can achieve:
We all want the best for our children.
It’s the best we can do in the circumstances.
b) the person or thing that is better than any other:
She’s the best of the new young writers.

2. do your best to try as hard as you can to do something:
As long as you do your best, we’ll be happy.
do your best to do something
She did her best to make him comfortable.

3. at best used to emphasize that something is not very good, pleasant, honest etc even if you consider it in the best possible way:
The campaign was at best only partially successful.
The technique is at best ineffective and at worst dangerous.

4. to the best of your knowledge/belief/ability etc used to say that something is as much as you know, believe, or are able to do:
I’m sure he’ll do the work to the best of his ability.

5. the best of something used to refer to something very good:
We wish him the best of luck with this venture.
He hasn’t been in the best of health lately.
They didn’t part on the best of terms.
They became the best of friends (=very close friends).

6. with the best of intentions/for the best of reasons used to mean that someone does something with good intentions or for good reasons, even if the result is not always good:
I’m sure he went there with the best of intentions.

7. the best of both worlds a situation in which you have the advantages of two different things without any of the disadvantages:
They live in a village but it’s only an hour from London, so they have the best of both worlds.

8. at your best performing as well or effectively as you are able to:
At her best, she’s a really stylish player.
He was never at his best early in the morning.

9. make the best of something (also make the best of a bad job/situation etc British English) to accept a situation that is not very good, and do whatever you can to make it better:
We are stuck here, so we might as well make the best of it.

10. all the best used to express good wishes to someone for the future:
We’d just like to wish him all the best in his new job.
all the best for
All the best for the New Year!

11. at the best of times if something is not very good, pleasant etc at the best of times, it is usually even worse than this:
It’s crowded at the best of times, but today it was unbearable.

12. the best of a bad lot/bunch British English the least bad person or thing in a group of not very good people or things

13. be for the best especially spoken used to say that a particular event may seem bad now, but might have a good result later:
I still don’t want him to go, but maybe it’s for the best.

14. your Sunday best old-fashioned your best clothes, that you only wear on special occasions

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

IV. best⁴ verb [transitive]
old-fashioned to defeat someone

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

best
adj.
VERBS be | consider sth, deem sth, judge sth, think sth Owen judged it best to make no reply.
ADV. very We aim to give our guests the very best attention.
by far, easily This is by far the best restaurant in the town.
PREP. at Who in the class is best at maths?
for I'm only trying to do what's best for you.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

best

the very best
He’s one of the very best players around.
easily the best
The series was easily the best TV drama this year.
by far the best
One girl stood out as by far the best singer.
the best possible
We sold the house at the best possible time.
the best available
The tuition we offer here is the best available.
the best way to do/of doing something
The best way to learn a language is to live in a country where it is spoken.
the best thing to do
The best thing to do is to apologize immediately.
the best way forward (=the best way to make progress or deal with a problem)
We believe that a merger is the best way forward for the business.
make the best use of something
Making the best use of space is important in any room.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

best
I.
noun
BAD: We all made our best to see that they enjoyed themselves.
GOOD: We all did our best to see that they enjoyed themselves.

Usage Note:
DO · HAVE · MAKE · TAKE
Many phrases begin with a very common very such as do, make, have, or take : ‘I felt very nervous about taking the test but, after having a long talk with Mrs Fisher, I decided I would just do my best and try not to make too many silly mistakes .’ These verbs can be combined with some nouns but not with others and since they do not have a clear meaning of their own, choosing the right combination can be a problem. Phrases which tend to cause difficulty are shown below.
HAVE
have a bath (or esp. AmE take ) ‘She’s probably upstairs having a bath.’
Have (your) breakfast ‘We usually have breakfast in the kitchen.’
Have (your) dinner ‘We had dinner and then went for a walk.’
Have a drink ‘I’ll collapse if I don’t have a drink soon.’
Have (an) experience ‘He has no experience of running a large company.’
Have fun ‘You can’t stop people from having fun.’
Have a holiday ‘It’s almost a year since we had a real holiday.’
Have an interview ‘I’ve had six interviews but no one has offered me a job.’
Have a lesson ‘Every morning we have three fifty-minute lessons.’
Have (your) lunch ‘Isn’t it about time we had lunch?’
Have an operation ‘Before I had the operation I could hardly walk.’
Have a party ‘On Saturday we’re having a party.’
Have a picnic ‘If it’s sunny we could have a picnic.’
Have a shower (or esp. AmE take) ‘It only takes me a minute to have a shower.’
TAKE
Take/do an examination ‘Why do we have to take so many tests?’
Take (your) medicine ‘Don’t forget to take your medicine.’
Take a pill ‘He refuses to take sleeping pills.’
Take/do a test ‘The last test I took was a disaster.’
MAKE
Make an effort ‘I had to make a big effort not to laugh.’
Make a journey ‘It was the first journey he’d made all on his own.’
Make a mistake ‘He has made a serious mistake.’
Make a noise ‘How can one small child make so much noise?’
Make progress ‘I made very little progress at the start of the course.’
DO
Do your best ‘Don’t worry, Tim. Just do your best.’
Do (or cause) damage ‘The storm did a lot of damage to the crops.’
Do an exercise ‘Have you done your exercises today?’
Do an experiment ‘To do this experiment, you’ll need two eggs.’
Do (sb) good ‘The holiday has done him a lot of good.’
Do harm ‘A scandal would do his reputation a lot of harm.’
Do your homework ‘Have you done your homework yet?’
Do a job ‘I’ve got one or two jobs to do this evening.’
Do the/some shopping ‘Jake has gone into town to do some shopping.’
Do research ‘We need to do a lot more research.’
Do things ‘We’ve done lots of different things today.’
Do your training ‘Where did you do your training?’
Note also: do something/anything etc: ‘I can’t come now – I’m doing something.’ ‘He hasn’t done anything wrong.'

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

best
II.
adjective
BAD: He is the best surgeon of the hospital.
GOOD: He is the best surgeon in the hospital.
BAD: It is one of the best theatres of Spain.
GOOD: It is one of the best theatres in Spain.

Usage Note:
The phrase that follows the best (+ noun) usually begins with in (NOT of ): 'one of the best restaurants in London', 'the best team in the league', 'some of the best students in the class'.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

best
best
See: as best one can , at best , for the best , get the better of or get the best of , had better or had best , he laughs best who laughs last , make the best of , put one's best foot forward , second best , to the best of one's knowledge , with the best or with the best of them

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲