win

win

I

win¹ S1 W1 /wɪn/ verb (past tense and past participle won /wʌn/, present participle winning)1.  COMPETITION/RACE  [intransitive and transitive] to be the best or most successful in a competition, game, election etc
   OPP  lose
    win a race/a game/an election etc
    Who do you think will win the next election?
    He won the Tour de France last year.
    win a war/battle
    the young pilots who won the Battle of Britain
    Who’s winning (=who is most successful at this point in the game)?
    win at
    I never win at cards.
    win by 10 points/70 metres etc
    We won by just one point.
2.  PRIZE  [transitive] to get something as a prize for winning in a competition or game:
    How does it feel to have won the gold medal?
    She won £160 on the lottery.
    win something for somebody
    the man who helped win the Cup for Arsenal
3.  GET/ACHIEVE  [transitive] to get something that you want because of your efforts or abilities
   SYN  gain
    win sb’s approval/support/trust etc
    The proposal has won the approval of the city council.
    Kramer has certainly won the respect of his peers.
    win sb’s heart (=make them love you or feel sympathy for you)
    The company has won a contract to build a new power plant outside Houston.
    win something from somebody
    Davis hopes to win financial backing from a London investment firm.
4.  MAKE SOMEBODY WIN SOMETHING  [transitive] if something, usually something that you do, wins you something, you win it or get it because of that thing
    win somebody something
    That performance won Hanks an Oscar.
    That kind of behaviour won’t win you any friends.
5. you win spoken used to agree to what someone wants after you have tried to persuade them to do something else:
    OK, you win – we’ll go to the movies.
6. you can’t win spoken used to say that there is no satisfactory way of dealing with a particular situation:
    You can’t win, can you? You either work late and upset your family, or go home early and risk your job.
7. you can’t win them all (also you win some, you lose some) spoken used to show sympathy when someone has had a disappointing experience
8. win or lose informal no matter whether you win or lose:
    Win or lose, I love competitive sports.
9. win the day to finally be successful in a discussion or argument
   SYN  triumph:
    Common sense won the day, and the plans were dropped.
⇨ win the toss at toss²(1), ⇨ winner, winning
     

COLLOCATIONS

■ nouns
   ▪ win a race He should have won that race but he came third.
   ▪ win a game/match It’s supposed to be easier to win your home games.
   ▪ win a competition The competition was won by a team from Surrey.
   ▪ win an election Which party is likely to win the election?
   ▪ win a battle/war Who won the battle of Waterloo?
   ▪ win a victory The protesters have won one victory already.
■ adverbs
   ▪ easily Chavez won the election easily.
   ▪ comfortably (=by a large amount, so that you do not have to worry about winning) The Celtics won comfortably, with a 22-point lead.
   ▪ convincingly (=by a large amount) United won convincingly by three goals to nil.
   ▪ outright (=clearly and completely) If one candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, he will win the seat outright.
   ▪ narrowly (=by only a small amount) In 1916 he narrowly won re-election.
   ▪ hands down (=very easily or by a large amount) Everyone expected Sam to win hands down.
■ phrases
   ▪ win by 10 points/ten metres etc We won by 23 points.
   ▪ a winning streak (=when you win many competitions one after another) They came here with a four-game winning streak.
     

THESAURUS

   ▪ win to be the best or most successful in a competition, game, election etc: Italy won the World Cup in 2006. | He has a realistic chance of winning the Championship.
   ▪ come first/be first to win a race or competition: Our team came first. | Jo was first in the race and I was second.
   ▪ finish in first place (also come in first) to win a race, competition, or election: The Democratic candidate finished in first place. | I couldn’t believe it when the horse I chose came in first.
   ▪ triumph written to win a great victory, especially after a long and difficult battle, game etc: Britain triumphed over its enemies. | In the end, the Yankees triumphed.
   ▪ come out on top informal to win a game, competition, argument etc: United came out on top after a thrilling game. | They did a survey and the Swedish car-maker came out on top. | If you try to argue with him, he always comes out on top.
   ▪ be leading/be in the lead to be winning a game, race election etc at the moment: The High School team are leading with sixty points. | With only two minutes left to play, we were still in the lead.
   ▪ be ahead to be doing better than someone else in a game, competition, or election: He’s still fifty seconds ahead of his nearest rival. | A week before the election, they were still ahead in the polls.
■ someone who wins something
   ▪ winner the person or thing that wins a race, competition etc: A prize of £500 will be awarded to the winner.
   ▪ the winning team/player/horse etc the one that wins: The winning team will go through to the grand final in Milan.
   ▪ champion (also the title holder American English) someone who has won a competition, especially in sport: He became the heavyweight boxing champion.
   ▪ record-holder someone who has achieved the fastest speed, the longest distance etc in a sport: the world high-jump record-holder
     
win somebody/something ↔ back phrasal verb
  to succeed in getting back something or someone that you had before
   SYN  regain:
    How can I win back her trust?
win out phrasal verb
  to finally succeed or defeat other people or things
    win out over
    Often presentation wins out over content (=is treated as more important than content).
win somebody ↔ over (also win somebody ↔ round British English) phrasal verb
  to get someone’s support or friendship by persuading them or being nice to them:
    We’ll be working hard over the next ten days to win over the undecided voters.
win through phrasal verb especially British English
  to finally succeed in spite of problems
   SYN  triumph:
    As in most of his films, it’s the good guys who win through in the end.

II

win² W3 noun [countable]a success or victory, especially in sport
   OPP  defeat:
    We’ve had two wins so far this season.
    win over
    In the under-16 event England had their first win over Germany.
⇨ no-win, win-win
     

COLLOCATIONS

(for Meaning 2)

■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + win
   ▪ a big win (=an important win, or one that you win by a large amount) This is one of the biggest wins I’ve had.
   ▪ an easy win The Australian appeared to be heading for an easy win.
   ▪ a comfortable win (=one that you win by a large amount, so that you do not have to worry about winning) Chelsea had a comfortable win against Crystal Palace.
   ▪ a convincing win especially British English (=a win by a large amount) Scotland cruised to a convincing win over Ireland.
   ▪ a five-point/two-goal etc win The team had a nine-point win over Arizona.
■ verbs
   ▪ have/score a win We haven’t had a win for three games.
   ▪ notch up a win (=achieve a win) Escude has now notched up three consecutive wins over him.
   ▪ pull off a win (=win when it is difficult to win) The side has pulled off two excellent wins in the past couple of weeks.
   ▪ clinch a win (=finally win after a difficult contest) He suffered some anxious moments before clinching a 9–6 win over Dennis Taylor last night.
   ▪ cruise to a win (=win easily) Arsenal cruised to a win over Chelsea.
     

THESAURUS

   ▪ victory noun [uncountable and countable] a situation in which you win a battle, game, election, or dispute: The crowds celebrated Italy’s victory against England. | The party won a comfortable victory in the general election. | We’re very confident of victory.
   ▪ win noun [countable] a victory in a sports game or in a competition: It was an important win for the Yankees. | A couple from London are celebrating a big lottery win.
   ▪ triumph noun [countable] written an important victory, especially in war or politics: Thatcher’s greatest triumph was becoming the UK’s first female Prime Minister.
   ▪ conquest noun [countable] a situation in which one country wins a war against another country and takes control of it: the Spanish conquest of Mexico | Caesar is well-known for his military conquests.
   ▪ landslide noun [countable] an election victory in which one party or candidate gets far more votes than their opponents: In 1945, there was a Labour landslide.
   ▪ walkover especially British English, cakewalk American English noun [countable] informal a very easy victory: The match was expected to be a walkover for Brazil.
   ▪ upset noun [countable] a situation in which the person, team, party etc that was expected to win is defeated: Truman pulled off the greatest election upset in United States history.