upper hand
54
3.2
- noun
- Informal
:
ventaja
- Having the upper hand in negotiations allowed her to secure a better contract.
- gain the upper hand
- hold the upper hand
- get the upper hand
And one faction will gain the upper hand and suppress another faction.
- And one faction will gain the upper hand and suppress another faction.
- There is a they have the upper hand, he says.
- And it isn't obvious which of those is going to get the upper hand.
- However, this time I shall have the upper hand.
- And in the past, the upper hand militarily was in their hands, not in ours.
- And YouTube has a big upper hand because if you look at how people watch YouTube videos, it's them.
- Though, there are also certain signs that are indicative that the ego has gained the upper hand.
- Even as we're struggling not to go back and to have the forces of regression gain the upper hand.
- So yeah, it was a decent fight and I can't say that Lee actually did him properly, but there were times when they both had the upper hand.
Examples
-
Teachers need to understand that they hold the upper hand in relationships with students.
Academic text (2005) -
We might ask then, who has the upper hand in the exchange?
Academic text (1998) -
I really need to get the upper hand.
-
We have the upper hand.
-
In all relationships, my goal is to gain the upper hand and come out on top.
Fiction book (1997) -
By 1979, the national security adviser had gained the upper hand in the making of China policy.
Academic text (2002) -
In the meantime, the pro-reformers seemed to be getting the upper hand in the government.
Academic text (1996) -
Pragmatists really started to get the upper hand in 1983.
Academic text (2014) -
The team worked hard to gain the upper hand in the final match.
-
By implementing strategic changes, the company finally has the upper hand over its competitors.
Synonyms
140
5.2
Power to influence people or events to get a better result
81
5.1
Power and control over other people or groups
33
4.2
An advantage in an argument or moral debate
9
8.2
A position of power over other people or groups
9
3.9
A situation that gives someone more power in talks or competition
7
5.6
Power that lets someone control people and places
1
7.7
A situation where one person or group has more control than others
Antonyms
How Powerful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'upper' clearly conveys superiority, which points toward a meaning of advantage, but the noun 'hand' in this phrase is metaphorical (control/position) rather than the literal body part and may not be obvious to a B1 learner. Because the overall idiom 'the upper hand' is a conventionalized metaphor combining superiority + control, learners who know the words might guess the general sense but would not reliably derive the precise idiomatic meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Upper hand may come from a simple fight scene: one popular story says that if your hand is on top of someone else's, in the upper position, you can hold or control them. That's why the phrase means 'a position of advantage' or 'control'.