At Best

Definition: At Best

At Best

Adverb

1. Under the best of conditions; "at best we'll lose only the money".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Synonym: At Best

Crosswords: At Best

I think the signing of a nuclear disarmament pact with the Soviet Union is at best an act of naïveté, and at worst an unsupportable negligence (Seven Days in May; writing credit: Fletcher Knebel; Charles W. Bailey II)

Compared to Xevariffic, she's a two. A two at best! (Lexx; writing credit: Paul Donovan; Lex Gigeroff)

I don't understand at best (What Would You Say; performing artist: Dave Matthews Band)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

And if the want of such instances be an argument to prove that government were not, nor could not be so begun, I suppose the contenders for paternal empire were better let it alone, than urge it against natural liberty: for if they can give so many instances, out of history, of governments begun upon paternal right, I think (though at best an argument from what has been, to what should of right be, has no great force) one might, without any great danger, yield them the cause. (Second Treatise of Government)

At best, they are inconclusive. (reference)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

At best, medications will reduce the symptoms, but will not alleviate them entirely. (references)

The first series of four S/HMO's originally was designed by Brandeis (Leutz et al., 1991). The evaluation of these programs suggests that they had, at best, modest effects on changing the health status of their enrollees (Manton et al., 1994). A second set of S/HMO's has been chartered by the Health Care Financing Administration. (references)

Business

Given that the various agencies responsible for water supply provide �" at best �" 60 to 75 percent of demand, the opportunities for all aspects of the water supply sector are very good especially outside of Bangkok. (references)

These two private companies have strong political connections and attempts to involve other companies in the waste disposal or to employ alternatives to hauling and landfills have met stiff resistance and limited success at best. Street scavengers and BMA collection workers engage in some sorting and selling of solid waste for recycling. (references)

Economic History

Vietnam

Many foreign firms have complained that the administration of customs is opaque, at best. (references)

Bolivia

The Banzer Administration worked to "de-bureaucratize" the government with at best modest success. (references)

Belgium

Average growth in 1997-2000 was 4.3 percent, but the outlook for 2001/2002 is about 2 percent at best. (references)

Human Rights

Brazil

Human rights groups maintain that the effect of these programs has been limited, at best. (references)

Sierra Leone

Prison and police lockup facilities conditions generally are harsh; at best they are Spartan, and at worst life threatening. (references)

Russia

Schooling in the prisons for children is sporadic at best, with students of different ages studying together when a teacher can be found. (references)

Political Economy

Moldova

The two sides have generally observed the cease-fire of July 1992, which ended the armed conflict, but progress toward a comprehensive settlement has been slow at best. (references)

Panama

Because the current Panamanian judicial system is inefficient at best, and corrupt at worst, many U.S. companies doing business in Panama have arbitration agreements in place as an alternative to the courts. (references)

Trade

Ghana

To date, support for the program on the part of Ghanaian banks has been lukewarm at best. (references)

Worker Rights

China

Since these agreements were signed, the Government's cooperation with U.S. officials has been sporadic, at best. (references)

Saint Lucia

Therefore, Ministry of Labor inspections of health and safety conditions at places of employment (under the Employee's Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1985) are infrequent, at best. (references)

Indonesia

However, there are credible reports that for many companies, consultations are perfunctory at best and usually only occur with management-selected workers; however, there also are credible reports to the contrary from foreign companies. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Expressions using "at best": at best time ♦ order at best. Additional references.

Albanian

në rastin më të mirë. (various references)

Arabic 

‏في أحسن الحال, ‏في أحسن الأحوال, ‏في أحسن الظروف (at the best), ‏على أحسن حال (best). (various references)

Bulgarian 

в най-добрия случай. (various references)

Chinese 

� �多 (at most). (various references)

Czech

v nejlepším případì. (various references)

Danish

til bedst opnåelige kurs (market order, order at best). (various references)

Dutch

bestensorder (market order, order at best), bestens order (market order, order at best). (various references)

Finnish

parhaassa tapauksessa. (various references)

French

ordre au mieux (at-best order, order at best), dans les bons moments (at best time). (various references)

German

bestenfalls. (various references)

Greek 

εντολή "με την καλύτερη τιμή" (market order, order at best). (various references)

Hebrew 

לכל �"יותר (at most). (various references)

Hungarian

legjobb esetben, legfeljebb (at longest, at most, at the longest, at the outside, to a maximum). (various references)

Italian

nel migliore dei casi, nel miglior modo. (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

高高 (at most, very high), 高々 (at most, very high), 精精 (as muchas possible, at the most, to the utmost), 精々 (as muchas possible, at the most, to the utmost), と�"べて (after all, anyhow, at all, at any rate, at most, by all means, compared with, in any case, it cannot be helped, kindly, please, somehow or other, there is a possibility, there is a tendency, there is no other way, what's the best thing to do?, What's the matter?, What's wrong?). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

たか� か (at most, very high), どうせ (after all, anyhow, at all, at any rate, at most, in any case), せいぜい (as muchas possible, at the most, to the utmost). (various references)

Pig Latin

atay estbay.(various references)

Portuguese

na melhor das hipóteses. (various references)

Russian 

в лучшем случае. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

u najboljem slučaju (best: at best). (various references)

Spanish

a lo mejor (like enough, maybe, perhaps, very like), a lo más (at most), en el mejor de los casos. (various references)

Swedish

i bästa fall (at most, ideally). (various references)

Turkish

taş çatlasa (at the outside, never), olsa olsa (at most, at the furthest, at the outside, at the utmost, at the very most), en fazla (at most, at the furthest, at the outside, at the utmost, at the very most, furthest, maximal, maximum, most, utmost, uttermost). (various references)

Ukrainian

у найкращий раз. (various references)

Welsh

ar y gorau. (various references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: bettas.

-1 letter: abets, baste, bates, batts, beast, beats, betas, betta, state, tabes, taste, tates, teats, testa.

-2 letters: abet, ates, base, bast, bate, bats, batt, beat, best, beta, bets, east, eats, etas, sabe, sate, seat, seta, sett, stab, stat, stet, tabs, tate, tats, teas, teat, test, tets.

-3 letters: abs, ate, att, bas, bat, bet, eat, eta.

+1 letter: batiste, battens, batters, battles, battues, bistate, tablets.

+2 letters: abettals, abetters, abettors, abutters, batistes, battiest, battlers, berettas, birettas, blatters, brattles, seatbelt, stablest, statable, substate, tabarets, tabetics, taborets, tastable, testable.

+3 letters: abattises, abetments, abruptest, abstinent, abutments, baguettes, barbettes, barrettes, bassetted, batteners, batteries, battiness, berrettas, bespatter, betatrons, betatters, birrettas, blastiest, blastment, bractlets, brattices, brattiest, butylates, butyrates, cabrettas, debutants, embattles, extubates, hebetates, intubates, obstinate, obturates, outbleats, rebuttals, seatbelts, spottable, stateable, steamboat, stoneboat, stylobate, substates, substrate, subtenant, tabletops, tabourets, tabulates, terabytes, trustable, tubulates, ytterbias.