Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to do better than that

to do better than that

68 3.0
Show a higher level of skill or quality than before
  • phrasal verb
: hacerlo mejor
  • Come on, I know you can do better than that.
  • got to do better than that
  • need to do better than that
  • want to do better than that

And I just knew that I could do better than that.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • I hope we can do better than that.

    Rosemary's Baby (1968)

  • "I'm sure you can do better than that."

    Fiction book (2002)

  • I think you can do better than that.

    Dark Water (2005)

  • Come on, you can do better than that.

    Hook (1991)

  • You can do better than that!

    Jerry Maguire (1996)

  • Come now, gentlemen, surely you can do better than that.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Any rational being who thinks about it for five seconds can do better than that.

    Blog text (13)

  • You'll have to do better than that.

    Harold and the Purple Crayon (2024)

  • You're gonna have to do better than that, pal.

    Midnight Run (1988)

  • I know you can do better than that in your next presentation.

Synonyms

to surpass
vsto do better than that
99 4.6

To be better than another person or thing

focuses on improving over one's own past level rather than competing with others
to outdo
vsto do better than that
62 3.8

Be better than someone at something

aims at raising one's own standard rather than chiefly beating others
to outperform
vsto do better than that
29 4.8

Do better than someone or something

is about exceeding one's earlier standard, not mainly about others' results
to outmatch
vsto do better than that
8 6.4

Do better than someone in skill or performance

emphasizes surpassing a past performance more than outcompeting other people

Antonyms

worse
∞ 1.0

Lower in quality or condition than something else

to fail
∞ 1.0

Not succeed in doing something you wanted to do

How Well

to dominate
8 3.7
to excel
81 3.7
to outperform
29 4.8
to do better than that
68 3.0
OK
69 1.0
struggle
417 3.2

Surface Forms

do better than that infinitive
did better than that past
done better than that past participle
doing better than that present participle
does better than that third person singular

Morphology

do + better + than + that

This is a straightforward comparative construction: 'do' (perform) + 'better' (to a higher degree) + 'than that' (than the referenced action or standard), so the overall meaning 'perform at a higher standard' is directly derivable from the parts. The pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows regular English comparative syntax, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should understand it.

Etymology

The phrase do better than that creates a clear picture: imagine someone standing on a low step and being asked to do more by moving up to a higher step to show they can be better. So, to do better than that means 'to perform at a higher level' or 'to beat what you did before'.