upper hand
nounDefinition of upper hand
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Synonyms & Antonyms for upper hand
Synonyms
advantage, better, bulge, catbird seat, drop, edge, high ground, inside track, jump, pull, stead, vantage, whip hand
Antonyms
disadvantage, drawback, handicap, liability, minus, penalty, strike
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Examples of upper hand in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Photo: The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images For now, at least, Hong Kong’s rebels have the upper hand. — Gerard Baker, WSJ, "Hong Kong’s Flickering Hopes for Freedom," 21 June 2019 The Allies, who were in control of all the major landmasses that lined the ocean, had the upper hand. — Hannah Fry, The New Yorker, "Why Weather Forecasting Keeps Getting Better," 24 June 2019 The two top parties began angling for the upper hand in forming a new government in Thailand on Monday after partial results showed no group won a majority of seats in the country’s first national election since a 2014 military coup. — Tassanee Vejpongsa, The Seattle Times, "Thai parties jostle for power after 1st election since coup," 25 Mar. 2019 Nearly 7,000 candidates, representing conservative, Islamist, liberal, secular, communist and military political streams, are vying for 329 seats in Iraq’s parliament and for the upper hand in electing the nation’s next prime minister and president. — Washington Post, "Iraqis vote in first national election after toppling of Islamic State," 14 May 2018 Nearly 7,000 candidates, representing a slew of political blocs, were running for 329 seats in Iraq’s Parliament and for the upper hand in electing the nation’s next prime minister and president. — Washington Post, BostonGlobe.com, "Iraqis vote in first national election after toppling of Islamic State," 12 May 2018 Reigns got in a few chair shots, but Lesnar ended up with the upper hand. — Gene Guillot, NOLA.com, "Roman's empire: Roman Reigns is the face of the WWE," 30 Mar. 2018 Kim made a surprise visit Monday to Beijing, Bloomberg News reported, the latest in a series of diplomatic power plays as countries jockey for the upper hand in the dispute over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. — David Tweed, Bloomberg.com, "Kim Jong Un and John Bolton Learned Very Different Lessons From Libya," 26 Mar. 2018 For two full periods, the U.S. men’s hockey team played with the upper hand. — Elizabeth, Philly.com, "U.S. men's hockey team stalls late, loses to Slovenia in Olympics," 14 Feb. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'upper hand.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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