win

1 of 2

verb

won ˈwən How to pronounce win (audio) ; winning

transitive verb

1
a
: to get possession of by effort or fortune
b
: to obtain by work : earn
striving to win a living from the sterile soil
2
a
: to gain in or as if in battle or contest
won the championship
b
: to be the victor in
won the war
3
a
: to make friendly or favorable to oneself or to one's cause
often used with over
won him over with persuasive arguments
b
: to induce to accept oneself in marriage
was unable to win the woman he loved
4
a
: to obtain (something, such as ore, coal, or clay) by mining
b
: to prepare (a vein or bed) for regular mining
c
: to recover (metal) from ore
5
: to reach by expenditure of effort

intransitive verb

1
: to gain the victory in a contest : succeed
2
: to succeed in arriving at a place or a state
winless adjective
winnable adjective

win

2 of 2

noun

: victory
especially : first place at the finish (as of a horse race)

Examples of win in a Sentence

Verb The boxer won the match by knockout. He won't give up until he's won the argument. Neither candidate won the debate. We tried our best, but you can't win them all. They played well, but they didn't win. The chances of winning are 1 in 100,000. It's not about winning or losing. It's about having fun. She won a tennis trophy. Her book won the Pulitzer Prize. She won praise for her hard work. Noun a pitcher with 15 wins Their win over the first place team was unexpected.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
Shildt won at a clip of 55.9 percent, one of the best in the modern game. Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Mar. 2024 Baser was shortlisted for the BRITs Rising Star 2024 award, won by The Last Dinner Party. Lars Brandle, Billboard, 19 Mar. 2024 Göransson, who earlier this month won the Oscar for best score for his work on Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, also won the Oscar for Coogler’s Black Panther. Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2024 Last year, Betts hit a career-high 39 home runs, Ohtani won his second MVP award in three years, and Freeman batted .331. Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2024 Donald Trump won the heavily Republican district it in 2020 by a 3-to-1 margin, the largest margin of Ohio's 15 congressional districts. Scott Wartman, The Enquirer, 19 Mar. 2024 The Nami tribe was the first to win, followed by Siga and leaving Yanu beyond frustrated after two consecutive defeats. Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY, 7 Mar. 2024 The purpose of the game has (ostensibly) been for the Faithful members of the group to identify and vote out Traitors, thereby reducing the risk of a Traitor winning a more than $100,000 cash prize and leaving them with nothing. Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 7 Mar. 2024 Trey Mancini, the former Cub, also is off to a slow start (1 for 13, six strikeouts) in his bid to win a backup first base/DH job. Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 7 Mar. 2024
Noun
Neural nets were racking up huge wins in fields such as image recognition, and an AI renaissance was suddenly underway. Steven Levy, WIRED, 20 Mar. 2024 Democrats claimed wins because the DHS legislation doesn’t fund a border wall or reinstate some harsh Trump-era immigration restrictions, the people said. Jacob Bogage, Washington Post, 20 Mar. 2024 The Supreme Court decision had handed a significant — yet temporary — win to Texas, which has been battling the Biden administration over immigration policy. Alexandra Banner, CNN, 20 Mar. 2024 Anaheim had an eight-game skid in November after starting the campaign with nine wins in its first 15 games. Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2024 The Knicks, who don’t take nights off under coach Tom Thibodeau, knocked the Warriors (35-32) back down to the 10-seed with their 119-112 win. Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 19 Mar. 2024 While Cook’s shot was released before the game clock’s one-third of a second expired, the officials deemed the shot was not released in time and Lipan secured a 40-39 overtime win at the Alamodome on Friday to advance to Saturday’s state championship. Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 Mar. 2024 Smaller bets can prolong gameplay, while larger bets may lead to more significant wins. Sponsored Content, The Mercury News, 8 Mar. 2024 There’s a lot that went into the Mavericks’ win, but the Heat’s struggles at the foul line were costly. Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 8 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'win.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English winnen "to strive, struggle, obtain by exertion, earn with labor, gain, triumph," going back to Old English winnan "to labor, strive," going back to a Germanic verb base *wenu̯- (whence Old Saxon winnan "to struggle, suffer, acquire," Old High German, "to labor, struggle, rage," Old Norse vinna "to labor, suffer, gain," Gothic winnan "to suffer"); akin to Sanskrit vanoti "(s/he) demands, strives for, obtains," vanate "(s/he) shall obtain," Avestan vanaiti "(s/he) defeats"

Note: According to Rix, et al., Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben (Wiesbaden, 1998), Indo-European *u̯en-, the source of these verbs is distinct from *u̯enH-, the source of Sanskrit vanate "(s/he) likes, takes pleasure in," Latin venus "physical desire, qualities exciting desire, charm" (see venus).

First Known Use

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Noun

1862, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of win was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near win

Cite this Entry

“Win.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/win. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

win

1 of 2 verb
won ˈwən How to pronounce win (audio) ; winning
1
: to achieve victory in a contest
I always dream of winning
2
: to get especially by effort or fortune
won praise for my hard work
3
a
: to gain in or as if in battle or contest
won the championship
b
: to be the victor in
won the war
4
: to make friendly or favorable to oneself or one's cause
won the voters with her warm sense of humor

win

2 of 2 noun
: victory
especially : first place in a horse race

More from Merriam-Webster on win

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