1
as in surpassed
to be greater, better, or stronger than
this year's profits should better last year's by a wide margin
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in improved
to make better
social workers and reformers trying to better the lives of inner-city residents
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of bettered
Their total of eight away victories in the Premier League was only bettered by Arsenal, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
—
George Caulkin, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2026
Meanwhile, majorities said the Republican president has definitely or probably not improved the functioning of government (59%) or bettered the nation’s standing on the world stage (60%).
—Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 9 Oct. 2025
Over the past two seasons, the Swede has scored 44 goals in the Premier League, a tally bettered only by Salah and Erling Haaland with 47 and 49 respectively.
—Dan Cancian, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
George Caulkin, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2026
Meanwhile, majorities said the Republican president has definitely or probably not improved the functioning of government (59%) or bettered the nation’s standing on the world stage (60%).
—Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 9 Oct. 2025
Over the past two seasons, the Swede has scored 44 goals in the Premier League, a tally bettered only by Salah and Erling Haaland with 47 and 49 respectively.
—Dan Cancian, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bettered
Verb
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Winning games is hard, though; Sunderland have won nine out of 26 in the league in a season that has surpassed all expectations.—
Oliver Kay,
New York Times,
20 Feb. 2026
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Maher ended his career with the NFL record for the most 60-yard field goals, a mark that would be surpassed by current Cowboys All-Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey.—
Lawrence Dow,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
19 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The Knights improved to 2-0 in their pool games and earned the right to move on to the next round.—
Dan Rios,
Daily News,
18 Feb. 2026
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Pitchbook’s Zabelin said the company is valued at more than $10 billion, adding that Mercor and its competitors’ high values show investors think services like human feedback and expert testing of AI models are becoming a permanent and essential part of how AI systems are built and improved.—
Hadas Gold,
CNN Money,
17 Feb. 2026
Verb
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While the scale of violence exceeded expectations, the belief that international support was imminent undeniably emboldened many protesters.—
Pegah Banihashemi,
Chicago Tribune,
15 Feb. 2026
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For the first time, in 2025, the demand for non-American, non-Western, non-English-language content exceeded 50 percent of the global revenue pie.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
15 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The latter impression is enhanced by an abundance of background light, but the images remain stunning.—
Murtada Elfadl,
Variety,
18 Feb. 2026
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Riffs on that comedy were enhanced in 2004 by former Python Eric Idle, with co-writer John Du Prez.—
Christopher Smith,
Oc Register,
18 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The race ran so long Fox had to bump it to the lower-tier FS2 channel; the event eclipsed the three-hour window to run 50 miles.—
Doug Turnbull,
AJC.com,
15 Feb. 2026
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China eclipsed Japan as the world’s largest exporter of vehicles in 2023.—
Chris Isidore,
CNN Money,
15 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The album topped the Billboard 200 chart for four weeks and spawned five top 10 hits on the Hot Latin Songs chart.—
Edward Segarra,
USA Today,
18 Feb. 2026
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Boys basketball In nonleague play, Donavan Wright put in 20 points as Boston Latin topped Somerville 53-41.—
Kristina Banahan,
Boston Herald,
18 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bettered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bettered. Accessed 23 Feb. 2026.
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