Meanings
alternative 'd better · alternative better
- idiomaticinformalwith infinitiveShould; ought to; need to; must.
“Will we get it finished?” / “We had better.”
3 more examples
You had better finish that homework on time, if you want to get a good grade.
The project had better get finished by the current deadline.
I ought to go and see Mike one of these days. - Well, you'd better do it soon, because he’s leaving for Tanzania at the end of the week.
Synonyms: had best
Synonyms & antonyms
verbShould; ought to; need to; must.
Origin
By surface analysis, had + better. See better (adverb).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan ser millor
- ser millorshould; ought to; must
Chinese Cantonese 最好
- 最好 (zeoi³ hou²)should; ought to; must
Chinese Mandarin 最好
- 最好 (zuìhǎo)should; ought to; must
Esperanto devus
- devusshould; ought to; must
French valoir mieux, avoir intérêt
- valoir mieuxshould; ought to; must
- avoir intérêtshould; ought to; must
- faire bien deshould; ought to; must
Italian dovere
- dovereshould; ought to; must
Polish lepiej
- lepiejshould; ought to; must
Portuguese seria melhor, deveria
- seria melhorshould; ought to; must
- deveriashould; ought to; must
Romanian face bine
- face bineshould; ought to; must
Spanish valer más, pobre de
- valer másshould; ought to; must
- pobre deshould; ought to; must
- más vale queshould; ought to; must
- mejor queshould; ought to; must
- sería mejor queshould; ought to; must
- más valerle queshould; ought to; must
Turkish iyisi mi
- iyisi mishould; ought to; must
Cite this entry
had better. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/had%20better
“had better.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/had%20better. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “had better,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/had%20better.
Source: had better on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.