From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishwinwin1 /wɪn/ ●●● S1 W1 verb (past tense and past participle won /wʌn/, present participle winning) 1 competition/race [intransitive, transitive]WIN to be the best or most successful in a competition, game, election etc OPP losewin 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]GETWIN 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 Arsenal3 get/achieve [transitive]GET to get something that you want because of your efforts or abilities SYN gainwin somebody’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 somebody’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 thingwin somebody something That performance won Hanks an Oscar. That kind of behaviour won’t win you any friends.5 → you win6 → you can’t win7 → you can’t win them all8 → win or lose9 → win the day → win the toss at toss2(1), winner, winningCOLLOCATIONSnounswin a raceHe should have won that race but he came third.win a game/matchIt’s supposed to be easier to win your home games.win a competitionThe competition was won by a team from Surrey.win an electionWhich party is likely to win the election?win a battle/warWho won the battle of Waterloo?win a victoryThe protesters have won one victory already.adverbseasilyChavez 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.phraseswin by 10 points/ten metres etcWe won by 23 points.a winning streak (=when you win many competitions one after another)They came here with a four-game winning streak. THESAURUSwin to be the best or most successful in a competition, game, election etcItaly won the World Cup in 2006.He has a realistic chance of winning the Championship.come first/be first to win a race or competitionOur 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 electionThe 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 etcBritain triumphed over its enemies.In the end, the Yankees triumphed. come out on top informal to win a game, competition, argument etcUnited 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 momentThe 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 electionHe’s still fifty seconds ahead of his nearest rival.A week before the election, they were still ahead in the polls.someone who wins somethingwinner the person or thing that wins a race, competition etcA prize of £500 will be awarded to the winner.the winning team/player/horse etc the one that winsThe 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 sportHe became the heavyweight boxing champion.record-holder someone who has achieved the fastest speed, the longest distance etc in a sportthe world high-jump record-holder → win somebody/something ↔ back → win out → win somebody ↔ over → win through→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
win• What would you do if you won $1 million?• Do you remember our first game of the season? We won 3-1.• No-one really expected the Socialist Party to win.• The court case has been dragging on for months, and it's increasingly unlikely that she'll win.• Who do you think is going to win?• Our guys were losing to win.• How much money did she win?• Eventually Jim wins a competition and the conductor is reinstated.• Milburn won a gold medal in the 1972 Olympics.• I could never win an argument with my father.• She always wins at Scrabble.• He went ahead of Nolan, winning by 15 seconds.• The competition was won by a Nigerian student.• This was the first of many victories won by women's rights campaigners.• They play really smart ball and they often win championships, despite having a lineup which is somewhat less than imposing.• We expect to win every game.• Gorelli, he'd won for a while, but now he was losing, and he was losing big.• It will take time to win her trust.• who won the first Civil War?• Chang won the first set but lost the next two.• His book won the Pulitzer Prize for literature.• Gandhi won the support of many liberals in England.win a war/battle• McCaffrey, 53, knows a lot about winning battles.• Hadn't she just won a war, after all?• The trouble is that tiptoeing is desperately uncomfortable when you are trying to win a war at the same time.• And, more important, the military certainly has not lost its ability to fight and win wars because adultery is prohibited.• Isabella gallops around, winning battles, expelling Moors from strongholds, her appetites expanding by the week.• Hicks won a battle for a loose puck from two Sharks.• Like Los Alamos, it was cradled by mountains and hastily built in order to win a war from an odd angle.• Why exert himself to win a battle the bowmen had already won?won ... medal• Redgrave has already won two gold medals and will become Britain's most successful current Olympic sportsman if he wins his third.• He won four gold medals at the Los Angeles Games, yet universal acclaim was reluctant.• He won a bronze medal for Britain in the 1952 Olympics.• She had trained under Kate Rorke at the Guildhall, where she won the silver medal for elocution.• That is not to diminish any of the efforts of hard-working, courageous athletes who have won silver medals here.• Dana won the gold medal in the javelin.• I could have won the Congressional Medal of Honor.win somebody’s heart• In the end, he won the princess's heart.win somebody something• Those tactics won't win them any votes.winwin2 ●●● W3 noun [countable] DSWINa 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.► see thesaurus at victory → no-win, win-winCOLLOCATIONS – 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 winThe 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 winThe team had a nine-point win over Arizona.verbshave/score a winWe 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. Examples from the Corpus
win• a 2-0 win over their oldest rivals• The Broncos opened the season with 12 wins in their first 13 games.• The hamstring pull which put Lydon out of the Test series was sustained in the closing minutes of a 50-4 win over Chorley.• Although I have a soft spot for him after his super-game Hennessy win, he does not appeal greatly as 7-2 favourite.• Counting on some momentum from his win over Gramm in Louisiana, but has little organization and money in Iowa.• It was an important win for Manchester United.• A couple from London are celebrating a big lottery win.• Will the Warriors put together a modest winning streak with a win over their northern California rivals?• Czechoslovakia reached the quarter-finals on the dubious claim of one win and three draws.• Those Republican wins came two years after Clinton carried Ohio against Bush.• McCain's win changes many things, both for himself and for Bush.• Newton Aycliffe after disappointing recently at last returned to winning form with a 3-0 win over relegation candidates Usworth Village.win over• A 2-1 win over Brighton and a 3-3 draw at Rotherham, however, have lifted spirits considerably.• Florida's 14-11 win over Cleveland• Dole also faces a challenge winning over the fence-sitters.• It takes too many wins over good teams to get there.• Labour moderates win over four of the hard left by agreeing that the cuts shall involve as few compulsory redundancies as possible.• Not that Lily had had great hopes, so early on, of winning over Robert's daughter.• But will his support help Mr Giuliani to split, or even to win over, the Latino vote?Origin win1 Old English winnan “to work, fight” 