get the better ofとは 意味・読み方・使い方

発音

動詞

get the better of (third-person singular simple present gets the better of, present participle getting the better of, simple past got the better of, past participle (UK) got the better of or (US) gotten the better of)

1. (transitive, idiomatic) To overwhelm or overcome.

   Synonyms: defeat, overpower, better

   • 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:

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

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

     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.

   • 2005 July 8, Eric Pfanner, “With Characteristic Fortitude, Britons Carry On”, in New York Times‎, retrieved 2 September 2008:

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

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

     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.

2. (transitive, idiomatic) To trick or con.
   • 2015 May 12, Rachel Platten, Dave Bassett, Brian West, “Beating Me Up”, in Fight Song‎, performed by Rachel Platten:

     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?

3. (transitive, idiomatic) To gain an advantage over or regarding.

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

   • 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:

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

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

     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.

参考

• (gain an advantage): have the better of