Greatest vs Best - What's the difference?
greatest | best |
(great)
Very big, large scale.
:
*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=1 *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=7 *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Timothy Garton Ash)
, volume=189, issue=6, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Very good.
:
*, chapter=5
, title= Important.
*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
*:He doth object I am too great of birth.
*
*:“[…] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?”
Title referring to an important leader.
:
Superior; admirable; commanding; applied to thoughts, actions, and feelings.
:
Endowed with extraordinary powers; uncommonly gifted; able to accomplish vast results; strong; powerful; mighty; noble.
:
(lb) Pregnant; large with young.
*(Bible), (Psalms) lxxviii. 71
*:the ewes great with young
More than ordinary in degree; very considerable.
:
*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
*:We have all / Great' cause to give ' great thanks.
*
*:Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor;.
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Intimate; familiar.
*(Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
*:those that are so great with him
Expression of gladness and content about something.
sarcastic inversion thereof.
A person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim.
A course of academic study devoted to the works of such persons and also known as Literae Humaniores ; the "Greats" name has official status with respect to 's program and is widely used as a colloquialism in reference to similar programs elsewhere.
(music) The main division in a pipe organ, usually the loudest division.
very well (in a very satisfactory manner)
(good).
* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
* (John Milton) (1608-1674)
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), author=Schumpeter
, title= Most; largest.
*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
*:Thou serpent! That name best befits thee.
*(Samuel Taylor Coleridge) (1772-1834)
*:He prayeth best', who loveth ' best / All things both great and small.
*
*:At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy?; and what she liked best' and ' best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.
To the most advantage; with the most success, cause, profit, benefit, or propriety.
*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
*:Had we best retire? I see a storm.
*(William Makepeace Thackeray) (1811-1863)
*:Had I not best go to her?
(uncountable) The supreme effort one can make, or has made.
* {{quote-news, year=2011
, date=September 28
, author=Tom Rostance
, title=Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos
, work=BBC Sport
(countable) The person (or persons) who is (are) most excellent.
something that is best
to surpass in skill or achievement.
To beat in a contest;
* 2010 , T. William Phillips, Restless Heart , page 16
As adjectives the difference between greatest and best
is that greatest is superlative of great while best is superlative of good.As an adverb best is
superlative of well POS=adverb.As a noun best is
the supreme effort one can make, or has made.As a verb best is
to surpass in skill or achievement.As a proper noun Best is
{{surname}.greatest
English
Adjective
(head)Statistics
*great
English
(wikipedia great)Adjective
(er)citation, passage=“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like // Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer.
citation, passage=‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared.
Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli, passage=Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.}}
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights,
Usage notes
In simple situations, using modifiers of intensity such as fairly'', ''somewhat , etc. can lead to an awkward construction, with the exception of certain common expressions such as “so great” and “really great”. In particular “very great” is unusually strong as a reaction, and in many cases “great” or its meaning of “very good” will suffice.Synonyms
* See also * See alsoDerived terms
* great big * great chamber * great hall * great room * greatly * greatnessInterjection
(en interjection)- Great! Thanks for the wonderful work.
- Oh, great! I just dumped all 500 sheets of the manuscript all over and now I have to put them back in order.
Noun
(en noun)- Newton and Einstein are two of the greats of the history of science.
- Spencer read Greats at Oxford, taking a starred first.
Adverb
(-)- Those mechanical colored pencils work great because they don't have to be sharpened.
Derived terms
* greatly * greatness (compound terms) * just great * great big * great aunt * Great Dane * great-granddaughter * great granddaughter * great-grandfather * great grandfather * great-grandmother * great grandmother * great-grandson * great grandson * great uncle * Great Wall of China * great white sharkStatistics
*best
English
Adjective
(head)- When he is best , he is a little worse than a man.
- Heaven's last, best gift
Cronies and capitols, passage=Policing the relationship between government and business in a free society is difficult.
Derived terms
* bestnessAntonyms
* worstAdverb
(head)Noun
- I did my best .
- My personal best in that race is eighteen minutes, four seconds.
citation, page= , passage=Home defender Per Mertesacker had to be at his best to stop a dangerous cross from Vassilis Torossidis reaching Djebbour, but moments later Arsenal doubled their lead through Santos.}}
Verb
(en verb)- "You did not win because I was sloppy. You bested me, Uncle. I've never seen you fight like that before.”