come off second best

verb

To be defeated in competition; be on the losing side.

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Meanings

verbcome off second best (third-person singular simple present comes off second best, present participle coming off second best, simple past came off second best, past participle come off second best)

present singular third person comes off second best · participle present coming off second best · past came off second best

  1. To be defeated in competition; be on the losing side.

    He was elected to the chair of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in 1827 at the newly-founded London University, and became prominent in railway controversies in the 'thirties, when he came off second best in a dispute with Daniel Gooch about the effects of speed on the human frame.

    1950 March, Michael Robbins, “Dr. Lardner's "Railway Economy"”, in Railway Magazine, page 153

Translations

German zweiter Sieger bleiben/werden
  • zweiter Sieger bleiben/werdenTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

come off second best. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20off%20second%20best

MLA

“come off second best.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20off%20second%20best. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “come off second best,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20off%20second%20best.

Source: come off second best on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.