Link Centre Dictionary

win

UK/ˈwɪn/ US/ˈwɪn/ very common informal slang
verb (4) noun (2)

verb

1.

be the winner in a contest or competition; be victorious

  • “He won the Gold Medal in skating”
  • “Our home team won”
  • “Win the game”
Antonyms
2.

win something through one''s efforts

  • “I acquired a passing knowledge of Chinese”
  • “Gain an understanding of international finance”
Synonyms
Antonyms
3.

obtain advantages, such as points, etc.

  • “The home team was gaining ground”
  • “After defeating the Knicks, the Blazers pulled ahead of the Lakers in the battle for the number-one playoff berth in the Western Conference”
Synonyms
Antonyms
4.

attain success or reach a desired goal

  • “The enterprise succeeded”
  • “We succeeded in getting tickets to the show”
  • “she struggled to overcome her handicap and won”
Synonyms
Antonyms

noun

1.

a victory (as in a race or other competition)

  • “he was happy to get the win”
2.

Origin

From Middle English winnen, from Old English winnan (“to labour, swink, toil,”) (compare Old English ġewinnan (“conquer, obtain, gain; endure, bear, suffer; be ill”)), from Proto-West Germanic *winnan, from Proto-Germanic *winnaną (“to swink, labour, win, gain, fight”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive, wish, desire, love”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian wan, wane, wen, wine, wune (“to win”), Saterland Frisian and West Frisian winne (“to win”), Cimbrian gabènnan (“to win”), Dutch and Low German winnen (“to win”), German gewinnen (“to win”), Luxembourgish gewannen (“to win”), Danish vinde (“to win”), Faroese and Icelandic vinna (“to win”), Norwegian Bokmål vinne (“to win”), Norwegian Nynorsk vinna, vinne (“to win”), Swedish vinna (“to win”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (winnan, “to suffer”); also Latin venus (“beauty, charm, elegance, grace; beloved, love”), Albanian vuaj, vuj (“to suffer; to endure”), Sanskrit वनोति (vanoti, “to desire, like, love, wish; to gain, procure; to win; to prepare; to hurt, injure”).

Phrases

  • faint heart never won fair lady
  • faint heart never won fair maiden
  • for the win
  • money won is twice as sweet as money earned
  • nearly never won the race
  • not win for losing
  • pay to win
  • play to win
  • the terrorists will have won
  • worldly win
  • you win

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.