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Best vs Most - What's the difference?

best | most |

In uncountable terms the difference between best and most

is that best is the supreme effort one can make, or has made while most is the greatest amount.

In countable terms the difference between best and most

is that best is the person (or persons) who is (are) most excellent while most is a record-setting amount.

As an adjective best

is superlative of good.

As a verb best

is to surpass in skill or achievement.

As a proper noun Best

is {{surname}.

As a determiner most is

superlative form of much.

best

English

Adjective

(head)
  • (good).
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • When he is best , he is a little worse than a man.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • Heaven's last, best gift
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), author=Schumpeter
  • , title= Cronies and capitols , passage=Policing the relationship between government and business in a free society is difficult.
  • Most; largest.
  • Derived terms

    * bestness

    Antonyms

    * worst

    Adverb

    (head)
  • *(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?
  • Noun

  • (uncountable) The supreme effort one can make, or has made.
  • I did my best .
    My personal best in that race is eighteen minutes, four seconds.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011
  • , date=September 28 , author=Tom Rostance , title=Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos , work=BBC Sport 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.}}
  • (countable) The person (or persons) who is (are) most excellent.
  • something that is best
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • to surpass in skill or achievement.
  • To beat in a contest;
  • * 2010 , T. William Phillips, Restless Heart , page 16
  • "You did not win because I was sloppy. You bested me, Uncle. I've never seen you fight like that before.”

    Antonyms

    * To worst.

    Derived terms

    * all for the best * all the best * as best one can * at best * had best * have the best of * get the best of * make the best of * the best part of * with the best * best of the best

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * bets 1000 English basic words ----

    most

    English

    Determiner

    (en determiner)
  • Superlative form of much.
  • Most people like chocolate.
    Most simply choose to ignore it.
    Most want the best for their children.

    Synonyms

    * almost all

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Superlative form of many.
  • :
  • *
  • *:At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=20 citation , passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-16, author= John Vidal
  • , volume=189, issue=10, page=8, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas , passage=Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.}}
  • Superlative form of much.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Boundary problems , passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most -used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.}}
  • :
  • *, chapter=7
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the' poorest and ' most miserable parish in the East End of London.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 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
  • To a great extent or degree; highly; very.
  • :
  • *1895 , , (The Time Machine) Chapter X
  • *:Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing.
  • Antonyms

    * fewest * least

    Derived terms

    * -most * make the most of * mostly * foremost

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (uncountable) The greatest amount.
  • The most I can offer for the house is $150,000.
  • (countable) A record-setting amount.
  • Usage notes

    * In the sense of (record), used when the positive denotation of (best) does not apply.

    Statistics

    *