get the better of

present singular third person gets the better of · participle present getting the better of · past got the better of · UK participle past got the better of · US participle past gotten the better of · alternative get the best of

1. idiomatictransitiveTo overwhelm or overcome.

   Adam said, "My temper got the better of me, and I said things as wasn't true."

   1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter 28, in Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC

   3 more examples

   Though this sort of thing went on every other night or very near it still Stephen's feelings got the better of him in a sense though he knew that Corley's brandnew rigmarole on a par with the others was hardly deserving of much credence.

   1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC

   Many people returned to work a bit anxious, they acknowledged, but grimly determined not to let terrorists get the better of them.

   2005 July 8, Eric Pfanner, “With Characteristic Fortitude, Britons Carry On”, in New York Times, retrieved 02 Sep 2008

   Thomas Tuchel got the better of his Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola for the third time since succeeding sacked Frank Lampard in January to bring European club football's biggest prize back to Stamford Bridge for the first time since 2012.

   2021 May 29, Phil McNulty, “Manchester City 0-1 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport

   Synonyms: defeat, overpower, better

2. idiomatictransitiveTo trick or con.

   I won't let you get the best of me How'd my heart become my enemy? I won't let you get the best of me How'd my heart become my enemy?

   2015 May 12, Rachel Platten, Dave Bassett, Brian West, “Beating Me Up”, in Fight Song, performed by Rachel Platten

3. idiomatictransitiveTo gain an advantage over or regarding.

   He got the better of him early in the match, but ended up losing.

   2 more examples

   So long as the intellectual gets the better of the general argument, the most valid objections of the specific issue will be brushed aside.

   1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 426

   With Jones and Botterman hoovering up penalties at the breakdown, Ward and Maud Muir putting the brakes on France's rolling maul and Cokyane waving off her opposite number after getting the better of a scrum, England were winning plenty of battles.

   2025 September 20, Mike Henson, “Kildunne stars as England see off France to make final”, in BBC Sport