as in defeating
to achieve a victory over
at last she's bested her card-playing mother at the game of hearts
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Recent Examples of besting
In 1950, four years after besting his nanny in the courts, Foxman’s parents took him with them to New York.
—
Ron Kampeas, Sun Sentinel, 11 May 2026
With such big-name quarterbacks up for grabs, gang green should want to lose to avoid others besting them in the draft order.
—Jacob Robinson, New York Times, 4 May 2026
This was a record turnaround among SpaceX launches from Space Coast launch pads at 2 hours and 54 minutes besting October’s double launch that saw a Falcon 9 launch at CCSFS just eight hours, 42 minutes after a Falcon Heavy launch at KSC.
—Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 1 May 2026
Marr continued to restlessly experiment with different sounds and different collaborators after the breakup, while Morrissey has largely continued making music that sounds like the Smiths, occasionally besting Strangeways with some of his early solo albums.
—Al Shipley, SPIN, 20 Apr. 2026
Developed by Chinese smartphone company Honor, Lightning completed the half-marathon in just over 50 minutes, besting the human world record for the distance of over 57 minutes.
—Simon Ellery, CBS News, 20 Apr. 2026
Megan Moroney, Miranda Lambert, Ella Langley, and Lainey Wilson were the leaders, each of them besting the closest male nominee, Chris Stapleton with six.
—Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 20 Apr. 2026
The bipedal humanoid, developed by smartphone maker Honor, blazed through the 13-mile race in just 50 minutes, 26 seconds, besting all 12,000 human competitors and even surpassing the human world record for a half-marathon, set by Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon last month, by nearly seven minutes.
—Janis MacKey Frayer, NBC news, 19 Apr. 2026
New Mom School was named a Rising Star, besting fellow nominees Arms Cyber Defense and Ethos.
—Nollyanne Delacruz, Mercury News, 5 Apr. 2026
Ron Kampeas, Sun Sentinel, 11 May 2026
With such big-name quarterbacks up for grabs, gang green should want to lose to avoid others besting them in the draft order.
—Jacob Robinson, New York Times, 4 May 2026
This was a record turnaround among SpaceX launches from Space Coast launch pads at 2 hours and 54 minutes besting October’s double launch that saw a Falcon 9 launch at CCSFS just eight hours, 42 minutes after a Falcon Heavy launch at KSC.
—Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 1 May 2026
Marr continued to restlessly experiment with different sounds and different collaborators after the breakup, while Morrissey has largely continued making music that sounds like the Smiths, occasionally besting Strangeways with some of his early solo albums.
—Al Shipley, SPIN, 20 Apr. 2026
Developed by Chinese smartphone company Honor, Lightning completed the half-marathon in just over 50 minutes, besting the human world record for the distance of over 57 minutes.
—Simon Ellery, CBS News, 20 Apr. 2026
Megan Moroney, Miranda Lambert, Ella Langley, and Lainey Wilson were the leaders, each of them besting the closest male nominee, Chris Stapleton with six.
—Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 20 Apr. 2026
The bipedal humanoid, developed by smartphone maker Honor, blazed through the 13-mile race in just 50 minutes, 26 seconds, besting all 12,000 human competitors and even surpassing the human world record for a half-marathon, set by Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon last month, by nearly seven minutes.
—Janis MacKey Frayer, NBC news, 19 Apr. 2026
New Mom School was named a Rising Star, besting fellow nominees Arms Cyber Defense and Ethos.
—Nollyanne Delacruz, Mercury News, 5 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for besting
Verb
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Trump has not endorsed a candidate, raising the likelihood of a June 16 runoff that would burn more time and money before the party can focus on defeating Ossoff.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
18 May 2026
-
Darby Allin defended his AEW World Championship twice in one week, defeating Konosuke Takeshita and Sammy Guevara.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
18 May 2026
Verb
-
The Louisiana native told me that overcoming his native cuisine was half the battle in that redshirt year.—
John Hollinger,
New York Times,
15 May 2026
-
The biggest obstacle was overcoming low expectations.—
Zoya Hasan,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2026
Verb
-
Owners who insist on doing it their way without mastering the existing system will often struggle.—
Seth Lederman,
Forbes.com,
20 May 2026
-
These creators made that knowledge far more accessible, producing educational content on everything from building a washday routine and transitioning from relaxers to mastering styles like twist-outs.—
Annie Blay-Tettey,
Allure,
14 May 2026
Verb
-
Denise attacked Djena again, beating her until Mohamed and their eldest son, Ahmed, pulled her off.—
Yudhijit Bhattacharjee,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
-
After the shooting, federal authorities accused Sosa-Celis and Aljorna of beating an ICE officer with a broomstick or a snow shovel during the incident, but those charges were later dropped after an investigation into whether the agents lied about the incident.—
Rena Rowe,
The Washington Examiner,
18 May 2026
Verb
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The sponsors of House Bill 1430 boldly admit that our transportation taxes have been hijacked to pay for education and health care, and that taking those funds out of the legislature’s cookie jar will create shortfalls.—
DP Opinion,
Denver Post,
19 May 2026
-
Around 25 million lightning strikes occur in the United States every year, with most taking place during the summer months.—
KANSAS CITY STAR WEATHER BOT,
Kansas City Star,
19 May 2026
Verb
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For a successful but not world-conquering rapper like Rashad, making a living relies on making sure that fans continue to feel connected to him.—
Kelefa Sanneh,
New Yorker,
15 May 2026
-
Built by Blueprint Construction with structural engineering by Design Point, the East River Residence demonstrates that conquering challenging terrain sometimes means floating above it.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
23 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The conglomerate finalized its acquisition of Dragontails in September 2021, touting the platform’s ability to optimize kitchen flow and driver dispatching by assisting workers with the timing and sequencing of orders, as well as planning optimal delivery routes.—
Sasha Rogelberg,
Fortune,
19 May 2026
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But the Knights were big dogs back then, and should have had an easy time dispatching the upstart Canadiens.—
Sean McIndoe,
New York Times,
11 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Besting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/besting. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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