had better
Should; ought to; need to; must.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“You had better leave now to catch the bus.”
“He had better apologize to his sister for breaking her favorite glasses.”
“The sky looks very dark, so we had better head home before it starts raining.”
“I had better check the oven because the cake has been baking for over an hour and I smell something burning.”
“You had better save a copy of your essay on a flash drive in case your computer crashes again tonight.”
“If the company hopes to survive this economic downturn, the board of directors had better implement significant changes to their current business strategy immediately.”
From the Old English *betera*, the phrase had settled into its current idiomatic form by the late 10th century. It originated as a reinterpretation of the dative construction *him wære betere*, literally "it would be better for him," which gradually shifted into the nominative *he had better*. The auxiliary use emerged from this syntactic evolution, fixing the expression in the language as a fossilised modal preference.
- 01
an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure
Precaution and prevention of an undesirable thing is preferable to dealing with its potential consequences.
- 02
better angels
Morally upright or otherwise positive attributes of human character.
- 03
better for it
In a more favorable position on the whole due to something, despite possible drawbacks.
- 04
better luck next time
Used to wish somebody hope in future success after a failure.
- 05
better nature
the more amiable qualities of someone
- 06
better place
Heaven; happiness after death.
- 07
better than sex
Superlative; wonderful.
- 08
build a better mousetrap
To create a new product, method, or idea that is better than an existing version of something already common or widely used.
Last updated August 10, 2026