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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

win.

To conquer, defeat.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈwɪn/[ˈwɪn]
  1. To conquer, defeat.

    obsolete · transitive
  2. To reach some destination or object, despite difficulty or toil (now usually intransitive, with preposition or locative adverb).

    intransitive · transitive
  3. To triumph or achieve victory in (a game, a war, etc.).

    transitive
  4. To gain (a prize) by succeeding in competition or contest.

    transitive
    to win the jackpot in a lottery;  to win a bottle of wine in a raffle
  5. To obtain (someone) by wooing; to make an ally or friend of (frequently with over).

    transitive
  6. To achieve victory.

    intransitive
    Who would win in a fight between an octopus and a dolphin?
    Nah, I'd win.
  7. To have power, coercion or control.

    intransitive
    Ever since the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Bostonians now run as "One Boston." The terrorists did not win.
  8. To obtain (something desired).

    transitive
    The company hopes to win an order from the government worth over 5 million dollars.
  9. To cause a victory for someone.

    transitive
    The success of the economic policies should win Mr. Smith the next elections.
    The policy success should win the elections for Mr. Smith.
  10. To extract (ore, coal, etc.).

    transitive
  11. To defeat or surpass someone or something.

    informal · transitive
  12. To take priority.

    informal · intransitive
    If the local filters conflict with the global filters, the global filters always win.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English winnen, from Old English winnan (“to labour, swink, toil,”) (compare Old English ġewinnan (“conquer, obtain, gain; endure, bear, suffer; be ill”)), from Proto-West Germanic *winnan, from Proto-Germanic *winnaną (“to swink, labour, win, gain, fight”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive, wish, desire, love”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian wan, wane, wen, wine, wune (“to win”), Saterland Frisian and West Frisian winne (“to win”), Cimbrian gabènnan (“to win”), Dutch and Low German winnen (“to win”), German gewinnen (“to win”), Luxembourgish gewannen (“to win”), Danish vinde (“to win”), Faroese and Icelandic vinna (“to win”), Norwegian Bokmål vinne (“to win”), Norwegian Nynorsk vinna, vinne (“to win”), Swedish vinna (“to win”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (winnan, “to suffer”); also Latin venus (“beauty, charm, elegance, grace; beloved, love”), Albanian vuaj, vuj (“to suffer; to endure”), Sanskrit वनोति (vanoti, “to desire, like, love, wish; to gain, procure; to win; to prepare; to hurt, injure”).

noun/ˈwɪn/[ˈwɪn]
  1. An individual victory.

    Our first win of the season put us in high spirits.
  2. A feat carried out successfully; a victorious achievement.

    slang
  3. Gain; profit; income.

    obsolete
  4. Wealth; goods owned.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English winn, winne, from Old English winn (“toil, labor, trouble, hardship; profit, gain; conflict, strife, war”), from Proto-Germanic *winną (“labour, struggle, fight”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive, desire, wish, love”). Cognate with German Gewinn (“profit, gain”), Dutch gewin (“profit, gain”).

noun/ˈwɪn/[ˈwɪn]
  1. Pleasure; joy; delight.

    Scotland
  2. Alternative form of wynn.

    alt-of · alternative
Where this word comes from

From Middle English wynne, winne, wunne, from Old English wynn (“joy, rapture, pleasure, delight, gladness”), from Proto-West Germanic *wunnju, from Proto-Germanic *wunjō (“joy, delight, pleasure, lust”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive, wish, desire, love”). Cognate with German Wonne (“bliss, joy, delight”), archaic Dutch wonne (“joy”), Danish ynde (“grace”), Icelandic yndi (“delight”).

verb/ˈwɪn/[ˈwɪn]
  1. To dry by exposure to the wind.

    Scotland · transitive
Where this word comes from

From wind.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.