as in defeating
to achieve a victory over
at last she's bested her card-playing mother at the game of hearts
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of besting
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, 29 Apr. 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
Sure enough, the project landed at Number One with more than 150,000 album-equivalent units moved in its opening week, besting the Weeknd’s Dawn FM by a modest 2,300 units.
—Kyle Eustice, VIBE.com, 30 Mar. 2026
Rincan won his first four matches, besting Jayden Espinoza of Arizona, Marquavious Lane of Georgia, Robby Newton of Rhode Island and Jared Goodwon of Virginia.
—Barry Scanlon, Boston Herald, 29 Mar. 2026
Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 29 Apr. 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
Sure enough, the project landed at Number One with more than 150,000 album-equivalent units moved in its opening week, besting the Weeknd’s Dawn FM by a modest 2,300 units.
—Kyle Eustice, VIBE.com, 30 Mar. 2026
Rincan won his first four matches, besting Jayden Espinoza of Arizona, Marquavious Lane of Georgia, Robby Newton of Rhode Island and Jared Goodwon of Virginia.
—Barry Scanlon, Boston Herald, 29 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for besting
Verb
-
In large part because the only feeling more satisfying than defeating your enemies is that of defeating your friends.—
Bennett Durando,
Denver Post,
25 Apr. 2026
-
When the Lakers last came to Houston, defeating the Rockets twice in three days, Rockets coach Ime Udoka appeared to tell Redick to put Bronny James in the game.—
Benjamin Royer,
Oc Register,
25 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
More Than One Way to Survive in Business Entrepreneurs have been positioned to accept that overcoming the competition is the only way to succeed in business, but there may be other paths forward.—
Daniel Fusch,
USA Today,
1 May 2026
-
The Blackbeard project aims to achieve all this while overcoming the obstacles that have hindered previous attempts at hypersonic weaponry.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Across industries — creative, legal, financial, technical — the systems people like myself spent careers mastering are being rewritten.—
Matti Yahav,
Fortune,
29 Apr. 2026
-
Regardless of their final career path, every intern's first assignment is learning to be a docent, mastering the art of guiding visitors on a tour.—
La'Tasha Givens,
CBS News,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Congratulations to 16-year-old Mathis Albert, who came on as a late substitute for Dortmund and became the youngest American to play in the Bundesliga, beating Gio Reyna’s record.—
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Aside from beating the stuffing out of a life-sized penguin plushie, Gritty has mocked — and stalked — the team's fans.—
Kaitlyn McCormick,
USA Today,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Harry and Meghan stepped back from their senior royal roles in 2020 due to media intrusion and racist coverage, eventually taking residence in Canada and, later, California, with their two children – Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4.—
Kathryn Palmer,
USA Today,
29 Apr. 2026
-
Brown said Atlanta was taking away the Knicks’ spray game, which made the answer simpler.—
C.J. Holmes,
New York Daily News,
29 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
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
-
One after another, the avatars of Democratic success in Georgia took the stage Saturday and were greeted like conquering heroes by hundreds of party faithful at the annual Carter-Lewis gala.—
Greg Bluestein,
AJC.com,
12 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The name Business Wire likely derives from the terms news wires or wire services, which recall the mid-19th-century method of dispatching news via telegraph, sending electrical signals via wire across great distances.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
27 Apr. 2026
-
After dispatching her parents from Phoenix to inspect the property, the couple decided to go ahead with the purchase.—
Jonathan Bullington,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Besting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/besting. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
