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Best

Definition: Best

Best

Adjective

1. (superlative of `good') having the most positive qualities; "the best film of the year"; "the best solution"; "the best time for planting"; "wore his best suit".

2. (comparative and superlative of `well') wiser or more advantageous and hence advisable; "it would be better to speak to him"; "the White House thought it best not to respond".

Adverb

1. In a most excellent way or manner; "he played best after a couple of martinis".

2. It would be sensible; "you'd best stay at home".

3. From a position of superiority or authority; "father knows best"; "I know better.".

Noun

1. The supreme effort one can make: "they did their best".

2. The person who is most outstanding or excellent; "he could beat the best of them".

3. Canadian physiologist (born in the United States) who assisted F. G. Banting in research leading to the discovery of insulin (1899-1978).

Verb

1. Get the better of.

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

Date "best" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Etymology: Best \Best\ (b[e^]st), a.; superlative of Good. [Anglo-Saxon besta, best, contr. from betest, betst, betsta; akin to Gothic batists, Old High German pezzisto, German best, beste, Dutch best, Icelandic beztr, Danish best, Swedish b["a]st. This word has no connection in origin with good. See Bette. (references)

 

Specialty Definition: Best

DomainDefinition

Literature

Best At best or At the very best. Looking at the matter in the most favourable light. Making every allowance.
"Life at best is but a mingled yarn."
At one's best. At the highest or best point attainable by the person referred to.
For the best. With the best of motives; with the view of obtaining the best results.
I must make the best of my way home. It is getting late and I must use my utmost diligence to get home as soon as possible.
To have the best of it, or, To have the best of the bargain. To have the advantage or best of a transaction.
To make the best of the matter. To submit to ill-luck with the best grace in your power. Source: Brewer's Dictionary.

Slang in 1811

BEST. To the best in Christendom: i.e. the best **** in Christendom; a health formerly much in vogue. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

Tips from 1870

Usage: Better, Best. While some good writers violate the rule, yet the best authorities restrict the use of the comparative degree to two objects.
"Mary is the better scholar of the two."
"Although both are young, Susan is the younger."
"Of two evils, choose the lesser," not the least. Source: Slips of Speech.

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

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Specialty Definition: Best

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Best (population: 27,500) is a town in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. The municipality covers an area of 35.35 km².

External Links

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Best."

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Best-case performance

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The term best-case performance is used in computer science to describe the way an algorithm behaves under optimal conditions. For example, a simple linear search on an array has a worst case performance O(n), when the algorithm has to check every element, and average running time is O(n/2) (see Big O notation), when the item to be found is around the middle of an array, but in best-case running time, the first element that the linear search looks at is the element the algorithm was searching for, and best-case running time is O(1).

It is not practical to base algorithm analysis solely on best-case performance, because most academic and professional industries are more interested in improving worst-case performance and average performance scenarios, as they occur more often than best-case scenarios.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Best-case performance."

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Board of European Students of Technology

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

'Board of European Students of Technology' is an international, non-governmental, non-political, non-profit, student organisation managed entirely by students. It strives to make technology students more internationally minded by encouraging their mobility and intercultural communication.

It was established in 1989 and is growing ever since. Currently it consists of 62 Local BEST Groups (LBGss) in 24 countries with more than 1400 active members.

They have an online job fair with more than 4000 CVs of Engineering students from all over Europe (http://minerva.BEST.eu.org).

In 2002 they had:

Partner organisations

External links

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Education reform

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Education reform is the process of improving public education. Small improvements in education have large social returns, in health, wealth and well-being.

For example, in Kerala, India, womens' health was substantially improved when female literacy rates improved in the 1950s. Literacy makes large amounts of health information available. In Iran, primary education in the countryside increased farming efficiencies and income. Farmers gained reliable access to national crop prices and scientific farming information.

At the current time, in the U.S., public attention focuses on the high expense and poor outcomes of U.S. primary and secondary schools, relative to their counterparts in other countries. The U.S. however, by many accounts has the best tertiary (university-level) education system in the world. Important contributing factors to this excellence seem to be that it admits on tested merit, is supported by a large base of paying students (and thus can afford the best teachers and researchers), and has nearly perfect student choice (so that poor institutions lose funding).

In Japan and Europe, primary education is excellent. This is thought to occur by continuous improvement of the programs of rigidly-controlled centralized state-run schools. However much dissatisfaction focuses on the lack of tertiary education for moderately gifted persons and "late bloomers." In some of these societies, higher education is state-paid, and only available to the small fraction of students that, in the U.S., would qualify for full scholarships. Also, tertiary education in these nations, while good, is often less good than U.S. standards.

In the U.S., the political conflict over primary and secondary education has two positions. One position wishes to remake U.S. education in the image of the European and Japanese, with central standards and control. The other position wishes to emulate the success of the U.S.'s tertiary education by extending vouchers (already tested in the form of the G.I. bill) to primary and secondary education.

Vouchers seems more consistent with U.S. culture, but distrust of the free market remains strong in the U.S. educational elite, who consistently oppose vouchers, or parental choice in education. The opposition has been led and funded by teacher's unions, whose membership might decline if teachers could open schools and cash vouchers.

A major purpose for centralized control of education in Europe has historically been to create a national identity. For example, in France, L'Institute Francaise controls the teaching of the French language, assuring that no dialect can assert independence. Germany exists as a single state because reformers invented a generic, standard German, "Hoch Deutsch" (High German) and taught it through government schools.

As the U.S. cultural identity becomes more fragmented and diverse, this must eventually become an important goal in the U.S. as well, or the U.S. will fragment.

Classical education

Education reform has a long history. Let's start with a description of Classical Education, the system originally targeted by most reforms. Classical education is now rare in many countries. It itself might contribute improvements to modern education.

Classically, primary education teaches students how to learn. Secondary education then teaches a conceptual framework that can hold all human knowledge (history), and then fills in basic facts and practices of the major skills (perhaps in a simplified form) of every major human activity. Tertiary education then prepares a person to pursue an educated profession, such as law, theology, medicine or science.

Primary education was classically called the "trivium", and teaches grammar, logic and rhetoric.

Classically, grammar consists of language skills such as reading. An important goal of grammar is to acquire and many words and concepts as possible. Very young students can learn these by rote.

Young adults can learn logic, the art of correct reasoning. Modern logical systems are remarkably easier to learn than classical logic.

Classically, rhetoric and composition (which is just written Rhetoric) are taught to somewhat older students, who then have the concepts and logic to criticize their own work, and persuade others. The only known way of teaching Logic and Rhetoric is the Socratic method, in which the teacher raise questions, and the class discusses them.

Secondary education, classically the "quadrivium" or "four ways," taught "astronomy, arithmetic, music and geometry." In modern terms, these fields might be called natural science, accounting and business, fine arts (at least two, one to amuse companions, and another to decorate one's domicile), and military strategy and tactics, engineering, agronomy, and architecture.

In a perfect classical education, the historical study of each field is repeated three times: first to learn the grammar (the concepts and design techniques in the order developed), next time the logic (how these elements could be assembled), and finally the rhetoric, how to produce good objects based on the grammar and logic of the field.

By the time a student has completed a project in each major field of human effort, they often have an excellent idea of what type of profession they would like to pursue.

In a classical education, history is the unifying conceptual framework, because history is the study of everything that has occurred before the present. A skillful classical teacher also uses the historical context to show how each stage of development naturally poses questions and then how advances answer them, helping to understand human motives and activity in each field. The question-answer approach is called the "dialectic method," and permits history to be taught Socratically as well.

The socratic method is the only known technique to teach people to think correctly and critically for themselves. In-class discussion and critiques are essential in order for students to recognize and internalize critical thinking techniques.

A classically educated person is intensely skilled, highly disciplined, broadly educated, and if taught Socratically, an amazingly supple and accurate logician and Rhetorician.

Accurate information about classical education is difficult to find. People took it for granted for generations, and then within one generation, it was replaced by Progressivism. The best available information is "The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home," by Jessie Wise and Susan Bauer. This and other resources by Bauer and Wise are available from one of the leading publishers of home education materials, Peace Hill Press (http://www.peacehillpress.com/ ).

Reforms of classical education

Classical education has weaknesses that inspired reformers.

Classical education is most concerned with answering the "who, what, when, where" and "how" questions that concern a majority of students. Unless carefully taught, group instruction naturally neglects the theoretical "why" and "which" questions that strongly concern a minority of students.

Young children with short attention spans often enjoy repetition, but only if the subject is changed every few minutes. Skilled, compassionate primary classical teachers (always a rare breed, now nearly nonexistent) have always changed subjects continually and rapidly. Unskilled, or unkind classical teachers have drilled the joy of learning right out of young heads. For more information, read "Marva Collins' Way" by Marva Collins, a gifted teacher.

Some people can regurgitate words and yet never understand what they mean in the real world. This was terribly common among classically educated scholars.

Classical education can also be expensive, difficult and boring.

Reforms have taken three tracks.

One is to reduce the expense of a classical education. Ideally, classical education is undertaken with a highly-educated full-time (extremely expensive) personal tutor.

Another track of reform attempts to develop the same results as a classical education with less effort, by concentrating on neglected "why" and "which" questions, which theoretically can compress large amounts of facts into relatively few principles.

Another track focuses on bringing educational topics into a concrete focus. In these reforms, book-learning is deemphasized in favor of real-world experience. A rather insulting sub-text of many such reformers is to imply that average persons cannot profit from theory, or information irrelevant to their every-day tasks.

A final track of reform has been to maintain a group's cultural and national identity.

Cost reduction

The low cost reforms were pioneered by Protestant church schools in Europe and the New world. These compassionately tried to develop the most valuable education for the least cost. When these succeeded, governments and the Roman Catholic church rapidly developed similar programs and implemented them on a huge scale, world-wide.

The basic program was to develop "grammar" schools. These teach only the grammar phase of the trivium, and bookkeeping. This permits people to start businesses to make money, and gives them the skills to continue their education inexpensively from books.

If a society plans to educate its populace to the highest standards using grammar schools, it needs a system of free lending libraries. Libraries allow adults to complete their educations. Free lending libraries are conspicuously absent in most countries other than the U.S. Ideally such a system would be supplemented with debate societies, so people can learn critical thinking and logic.

The ultimate development of the grammar school was by Joseph Lancaster, who started as an impoverished Quaker in early 19th century London. Lancaster used slightly more-advanced students to teach less-advanced students, achieving student-teacher ratios as small as 2, while educating more than a thousand students per adult. Lancaster promoted his system in a piece called Improvements in Education that spread widely throughout the English-speaking world.

Discipline and labour in a Lancaster school were provided by an economic system. Scrip, a form of money meaningless outside the school, was created at a fixed exchange rate from a student's tuition. Every job of the school was bid for by students in scrip. The highest bid won. The jobs permitted students to collect scrip from other students for services rendered. However, -any- student tutor could auction positions in his or her classes. Besides tutoring, students could use script to buy food, school supplies, books, and childish luxuries in a school store. The adult supervisors were paid from the bids on jobs.

With fully developed internal economies, Lancaster schools provided a frighteningly (this used advisedly) good grammar-school education for a cost per student near $40 per year in 1999 U.S. dollars. The students were very clever at reducing their costs, and once invented, improvements were widely adopted in a school. For example, Lancaster students, motivated to save scrip, ultimately rented individual pages of textbooks from the school library, and read them in groups around music stands to reduce textbook costs. Exchanges of tutoring, and using receipts from "down tutoring" to pay for "up tutoring" were commonplace.

Established educational elites found Lancaster schools so threatening that most English-speaking countries developed mandatory publicly paid education explicitly to keep public education in "responsible" hands.

Lancaster schools have obvious application to impoverished societies. Lancaster, though motivated by charity, claimed in his pamphlets to be surprised to find that he lived well on the income of his school, even while the low costs made it available to the poorest street-children.

Teaching principles rather than facts

Another reform track tried to develop educational systems based on teaching principles, rather than rote learning. The earliest advocates were Rousseau, and the early encyclopedists. The program failed because principles need to be illustrated. However, encyclopedias remain valuable, and explanations concerning "why" and "which" became common in educational curricula.

Teaching by experience 'Progressivism

To provide examples of the principles, the next swing of reform attempted to teach things of fundamental physical importance first. Usually, this meant farming, literally from the ground up, combined with ethical education from first principles. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's book on this is "Emile." H. D. Thoreau's "Walden" and reform essays in the mid-19th century were influential also (see the anthology "Uncommon Learning: Henry David Thoreau on Education," Boston, 1999). For a look at Transcendentalist life, read Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women." Her father, Bronson Alcott, a close friend of Thoreau's, pioneered progressive education for young people as early as the 1830s. (See Laurie James, "Outrageous Questions: Legacy of Bronson Alcott and America's One-Room Schools," New York, 1994.)

The transcendental education movement failed, because only the most gifted students ever equaled the skills of their classically-educated teachers. These students would, of course, succeed in any educational regime. Accounts seem to indicate that the students were happy, but often pursued classical education later in life. That is, transcendental education failed but students weren't harmed.

Maria Montessori, an Italian doctor educated in Rome, best realized the ideals of the transcendental movement. She tried to provide for the needs of children at each stage of their development, by carefully observing and meeting the needs of the actual children. In another view, she provided rewarding activities to lure children to practice skills on their own, as soon as they were able. Her books include "The Montessori Method" (1912) and "The Advanced Montessori Method" (1917). Unlike many successful educators, M. Montessori successfully taught others to emulate her methods, which are now widely available.

John Dewey, a philosopher and educator, influenced most modern education. An important member of the American "pragmatist" movement, he believed that a person's intellect would grow by acquiring experience. People would thereby analyze new situations and synthesize more inclusive and accurate understandings of the real world. These would let a person reconstruct a complete story about a situation from fragmentary information. In this way, educated people would respond more accurately to real-world situations and better achieve their goals.

Dewey criticized the rigidity and volume of classical education, and the emotional idealizations of transcendental education. He presented his educational theories as the science-based synthesis of the two views. His slogan was that schools should encourage children to "Learn by doing." He wanted people to realize that children are naturally active and curious. Dewey's understanding of logic is best presented in his "Logic, the Theory of Inquiry" (1938). His educational theories were presented in "My Pedagogic Creed," "The School and Society," "The Child and Curriculum," and (if you read just one, read this one) "Democracy and Education" (1916). It might be instructive to note that Dewey left the University of Chicago in 1904 over issues relating to the Dewey School. After this, he taught at Columbia's Teacher's College.

Jean Piaget, Isabel Myers, and Katherine Briggs seem to have collectively driven the nails into the coffin of Deweyism as it is usually practiced.

Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who studied people's developmental stages. He showed by replicated experiments that most young children do not analyze or synthesize as Dewey expected. This means that Dewey's reforms are inapplicable to the primary education of young children.

Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Myers developed a psychological test that reliably identifies sixteen distinct human temperaments, building on work by Jung. A wide class of temperaments (half by category, 60% of the general population) prefer sensory modalities to intuitive modalities.

In terms of education, this means that most people prefer to learn answers to concrete "Who, what, when, where," and "how" questions, rather than theoretical "which" and "why" questions.

Preference in this case means that most people do not use non-concrete information. This means that 60% of the target population only use, and therefore want to learn, facts, not principles.

This information was confirmed (on another research track) by Jean Piaget, who discovered that nearly 60% of adults never habitually use what he called "formal operational reasoning," a term for the development and use of theories and explicit logic.

That is, Dewey schools, or -any- schools that teach -principles- will fail to educate 60% of the general population.

Dewyism has failed in primary education in the U.S.

National Identity

The ability to learn a new language falls off dramatically between the ages of 6 and 12.

Since most modern schools copy the Prussian models, children start school at an age when their language skills remain plastic, and they find it easy to learn the national language. This was an intentional design on the part of the Prussians. The primary purpose of Kindergarten was to have the children spend time in supervised activities in the national language, when the children were very well able to learn new language skills.

In the U.S. over the last twenty years, more than 70% of non-English-speaking school-age immigrants have arrived in the U.S. before they were 6 years old. At this age, they could have been taught English in school, and achieved a proficiency indistinguishable from a native speaker. In other countries, this approach has dramatically improved reading and math test scores.

Notable reforms

Some of the methods and reforms seem to work, and certain weaknesses can be identified.

First, anything that more precisely meets the needs of the child will work better. This is the great lesson from M. Montessori.

The teaching method must be teachable! This is a lesson from both Montessori and Dewey. The transcendentalists failed here.

It might be wise to base conservative programs on classical education, which reliably teaches valuable skills to the majority of Myers-Briggs temperaments, by teaching facts.

Programs that test individual learning, and teach to mastery of a subject have been proven by the state of Kentucky to be far more effective than group instruction with compromise schedules, or even class-size reduction.

Schools with limited resources can use a grammar-school-only approach, using students as teachers. If the culture supports it, perhaps the economic discipline of the Lancaster school can reduce costs even further. However, much of the success of Lancaster's "school economy" was that the children were natives of an intensely mercantile culture.

In order to be effective, classroom instruction needs to change subjects at times near a typical student's attention span, which can be as frequently as every two minutes for young children. This is one of the tricks that seems to help Marva Collins teach. The other is a genuine love of students-- which cannot be trained, and therefore must be selected-for.

The Myers-Briggs temperaments fall into four broad categories, each sufficiently different to justify completely different educational theories. It might be socially profitable to test and target these temperaments with special curricula.

Some of the Myers-Briggs temperaments are known to despise educational material that lacks theory. Therefore, effective curricula need to raise and answer "which" and "why" questions, to teach students with "intuitive" (Myers-Briggs) modalities.

Philosophers identify independent, logical reasoning as a precondition to most western science, engineering, economic and political theory. Therefore, every educational program that desires to improve students' outcomes in political, health and economic behavior should include a Socratically-taught set of classes to teach logic and critical thinking.

Another valuable reform is to permit students to test out of classes. This saves resources, increases motivation, directs individual study, and reduces boredom and disciplinary problems.

To support inexpensive continuing adult education a community needs a free public library. It can start modestly as shelves in an attended shop or government building, with donated books. Attendants are essential to protect the books from vandalism. Adult education repays itself many times over by providing direct opportunity to adults. Free libraries are also powerful resources for schools and businesses.

New programs based on modern learning theories should be quantitatively investigated for effectiveness. A notable reform of the education system of Massachusetts occured in 1997.

See also educational philosophies.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Education reform."

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Funkadelic compilations

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Funkadelic has released several compilation albums, starting in 1975. They are listed below (with year of release and label), with track listings.

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: Best

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.
EntrySourceExpressionField

BEST

EnglishTask Force on business environment simplificationEconomics

BEST

FrenchBulletin d'études européennes sur le tempsPublishing & Graphic Arts
IFI BESTEnglishInternational Fund for Ireland,Biomedical and Environmental Sensor TechnologyN/A
BEATEnglishBest Enhanced Advanced TechnologyComputer - (Trident, AT)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Synonyms: Best

Synonyms: best(p) (adj), better(p) (adj), better (adv), outdo (v), outflank (v), scoop (v), trump (v). (additional references)
Antonym: worst (n). (additional references)

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Crosswords: Best

English words defined with "best": At best, at the bestFor bestget the besthad best, have the bestSunday bestTo make the best of, To put the best foot foremost. (references)
Specialty definitions using "best": best and final offer, best asymptotically normal estimator, best effort, best estimator, best first search, Best Fit, Best Thingsorder at bestRome's best Wealth is Patriotismuniformly best distance power test. (references)
Etymologies containing "best": Tenace. (references)
Non-English Usage: "Best" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

Cornish (animal), Dutch (best), Frisian (best), German (best), Norwegian (best), Swedish (animal, beast, brute, monster).

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Modern Usage: Best

DomainUsage

Screenplays

You're 5 foot and nothin', a hundred and nothin', not one ounce of athletic ability, yet you hung in with the best college football team in the land and are gonna walk out of here with a degree from the University of Notre Dame (Rudy; writing credit: Angelo Pizzo)

There are certain skills best acquired in public bars, I suppose (Sleuth; writing credit: Anthony Shaffer)

Put on your Sunday best, kids, we're going to Sears (The Brady Bunch Movie; writing credit: Betty Thomas, written by Laurice Elehwany, Rick Copp, Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner)

And the best he ever managed was a Sermon on the Mount (Tomorrow Never Dies; writing credit: Bruce Feirstein)

I just have the best umbrella (Almost Famous; writing credit: Cameron Crowe)

Lyrics

Ah, you're my best friend (My Best Friend; performing artist: Jefferson Airplane)

Ooh you're the best friend that I ever had (You're My Best Friend; performing artist: QUEEN; writing credit: John Deacon)

You go and save the best for last (Save the Best for Last; performing artist: Vanessa Williams)

You're just the best I ever had (Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning); performing artist: Vertical Horizon)

Cause you and I know it's tha best side (California Love; performing artist: 2 PAC)

Clever

Sacred cows make the best hamburger. (references; author: Mark Twain)

Sex without love is an empty gesture. But as empty gestures go, it is one of the best. (references; author: Woody Allen)

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. (references; author: Groucho Marx)

A good example is the best sermon. (references; author: unknown)

The best vitamin for a Christian is B1. (references; author: unknown)

Tongue Twisters

I'm a sheet slitter. I slit sheets. I am the best sheet slitter that ever slit a sheet. (references; author: unknown)

Movie/TV Titles

Best seller (2002)

The Best of Benny Hill (1974)

Some of My Best Friends Are Men (1973)

What Are Best Friends For? (1973)

The Best Pair of Legs in the Business (1972)

Song Titles

The Best Day (performing artist: George Strait)

The Best Man I Can Be (performing artist: Ginuwine)

Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me (performing artist: Gladys Knight & The Pips)

My Best Friend (performing artist: Jefferson Airplane)

The Best Things In Life Are Free (performing artist: Luther Vandross & Janet Jackson)

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

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Commercial Usage: Best

DomainTitle

References

  • Arkansas Best Corporation: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference)

  • Best Buy Co Incorporated: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference)

  • Best Denki Co. Ltd.: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference)

  • Best Software, Inc.: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference)

  • Best World Land Berhad: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference)

    (more reference examples)

  

Books

  • 101 of the Best No-Cost & Low-Cost Ways to Reward Employees [DOWNLOAD: PDF] (reference)

  • The 125 Best Fondue Recipes (reference)

  • Best of Foo Fighters (reference)

  • Best Places Northwest, 13th edition: Restaurants, Lodgings, Touring (formerly "Northwest Best Places") (reference)

  • The Best Little Fortune Cookie Kit Ever (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Periodicals

  • Adweeks Best Spots Of The Month - Video Cassette (reference)

  • Americas Best Recipes (reference)

  • Best American Science Writing - Paperback Ed (reference)

  • Best American Short Stories - Hardbound (reference)

  • Best Bed & Breakfast In England Scotland & Wales (reference)

    (more periodical examples)

  

Theater & Movies

  • The Best of Friends Collection (Vols. 1-4) (reference)

    (more DVD examples; more video examples)

  

Music

  

High Tech

  

Consumer Goods

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

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Image Slideshow: Best

Photos:
Best

More pictures...

Illustrations:
Best

More pictures...

Computer Images:
Best

More pictures...

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Photo Album: Best

ThumbnailDescription & CreditThumbnailDescription & Credit

Pictured is a breast cancer cell, photographed by a scanning electron microscope, which produces a 3-dimensional images. This picture shows the overall shape of the cell's surface at a very high magnification. Cancer cells are best identified by internal details, but research with a scanning electron microscope can show how cells respond in changing environments and can show mapping distribution of binding sites of hormones and other biological molecules. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.

The Hubble telescope has given astronomers their best look yet at a rapidly ballooning bubble ... Credit: NASA.

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have gotten their best look yet at the ... Credit: NASA.

Three-color filter image of Jupiter's best known feature, the Great Red Spot. (Voyager 1). Credit: NASA.

Oops!!! Buoy pulled under by strong currents under Golden Gate Bridge In spite of the best laid plans, sometimes things go awry Photo #1 of sequence. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.

Not the best bridge, but it will work Level party crossing bayous near Dugdemona River Level party of R. C. Darling. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.

The plantings were conducted in different patterns to determine the most successful planting technique. The technique in the foreground is a checkerboard planting, the middle area is unplanted, and the background planting was done as a continuous planting. The best success was in high density patchy plantings. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

North Inlet - Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Golf courses are common along the South Carolina coast. This golf course at the edge of the Waccamaw River was part of a study conducted by the North Inlet - Winyah Bay NERR designed to determine the effects of golf course best management practices on water quality. Credit: National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERR).

Experimental reefs, or casitas, help determine what factors make the best reefs. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP).

JSL subs are among the best equipped in the world for science. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP).

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

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Digital Photo Gallery: Best
 

"The Best Smelling Toilets Arou" by Rene Cerney
Commentary: "You see something new everyday.... - If you use this for something I would love to know what for! =)."
"Best Friends" by Luke Wertz
Commentary: "Three chimps just a few miles north of my house. I've forgotten their names."

Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

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Familiar Quotations: Best

AuthorQuotation

Aesop

Example is the best precept.

Benjamin Franklin

The best is the cheapest.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

In art the best is good enough.

John Vanbrugh

He laughs best who laughs last.

Joyce Brothers

The best proof of love is trust.

Red Auerbach

Just do what you do best.

Titus Maccius Plautus

Ones oldest friend is the best.

Victor Hugo

Toleration is the best religion.

William Shakespeare

The best safety lies in fear.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Historic Usage: Best

AuthorDateQuotation

John Locke

1690

Whether they are herein made the tools of cunninger workmen, to pull down their own fabric, they were best look. (Second Treatise of Government)

US Constitution

1791

Clause 8: Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Section. (reference)

Marbury v. Madison

1803

It is in these words: "I do solemnly swear that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich; and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge all the duties incumbent on me as _____, according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the constitution, and laws of the United States." (reference)

Communist Manifesto

1848

The bourgeoisie naturally conceives the world in which it is supreme to be the best; and bourgeois Socialism develops this comfortable conception into various more or less complete systems. (reference)

Treaty of Versailles

1919

The German Government undertakes to carry out all measures which shall be required of it in order to assure that all the making-up and switching of trains arriving at or departing from Kehl, whether for the right bank or the left bank of the Rhine, shall be carried on in the best conditions possible. (reference)

Brown v. Board of Education

1954

At best, they are inconclusive. (reference)

John F. Kennedy

1961

To those peoples in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required--not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. (reference)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Use in Literature: Best

TitleAuthorQuote

Emma

Austen, Jane

I will do my best.

Sylvie and Bruno

Carroll, Lewis

The next question is, what is the best time for seeing Fairies

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams

Yeah, I work out how it can best be done, right, but it always works out. It's like having a Galacticredit card which keeps on working though you never send off the cheques

Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne, Nathaniel

It would not reflect, or only with miserable dimness, the figures with which I did my best to people it.

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

He spoke to him the best truths, which are the simplest

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Joyce, James

The best helpers the language has.

King Richard III

Shakespeare, William

I tell thee, fellow, He that doth naught with her, excepting one, Were best to do it secretly alone

Grapes of Wrath

Steinbeck, John

Best goddamn car Dodge ever made

Gulliver's Travels

Swift, Jonathan

I had many acquaintance among persons of the best fashion, and being always attended by my interpreter, the conversation we had was not disagreeable

Walden

Thoreau, Henry David

I feel all my best faculties concentrated in it.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Best

SubjectTopicQuote

Health

Cheapest may not always be best. (references)

Of course a healthy tooth is the best tooth. (references)

The best "treatment" for Chlamydia is prevention. (references)

Business

The next best sales prospect is Aguas Argentinas. (references)

However, joint ventures often seem to be the best option. (references)

Figures represent the best estimates of the overall market. (references)

Children

Congo

Escaped child soldiers from Camp Mushaki in North Kivu Province, the best known camp of this type, described their forced conscription and subsequent training at this camp to NGO personnel. (references)

Civil Liberties

Croatia

Existing mechanisms for the return of private property have worked best in the Danubian region where returnees tend to be ethnic Croats seeking to regain their homes from ethnic Serbs who are occupying them. (references)

Switzerland

The Supreme Court decision was expected to establish a nationwide legal guideline on the issue; however, in June 2000, the Federal Council stated that there was no need for specific legislation on sects because the existing legislative framework was sufficient to preserve the population's best interests. (references)

Discrimination

Brazil

The Gay Group of Bahia (GGB), the country's best known homosexual rights organization, and Amnesty International have documented the existence of skinhead, neo-Nazi, and "machista" gangs that attacked suspected homosexuals in cities including Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, and Brasilia. (references)

Economic History

Denmark

Best potential exist for asparagus and fungi. (references)

Armenia

Armenia's human capital is one of its best resources. (references)

Human Rights

Brazil

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

Nigeria

Each session ended with recommendations to the Government on how best to resolve these issues. (references)

China

The best that a defense attorney generally can do for a client is to get a sentence mitigated. (references)

Indigenous People

El Salvador

The largest and best known is the National Association of Indigenous Salvadorans. (references)

Minorities

Slovenia

The Roma are best characterized as a set of groups rather than as one community. (references)

Albania

Of all minority groups, ethnic Greeks are the largest and best organized and receive the most attention and assistance from abroad. (references)

Political Economy

Georgia

Georgia has adopted some of the best laws and institutional structures in the former Soviet Union. (references)

Canada

These factors complement the obvious geographic facts and have combined to make each the other's best customer. (references)

BRAZIL

In the services sector, the communications subsector turned in the best performance by far with a 17 percent expansion. (references)

Political Rights

Bangladesh

Discussions regarding how best to accomplish this were ongoing at year's end. (references)

Jamaica

These problems persisted in the December 1997 election, despite the best efforts of the security forces, which were credited with controlling violence such as the beating of voters, and reducing election malpractice such as the theft of ballot boxes from polling places. (references)

Trade

Bolivia

Arica (Chile) is generally considered to be the best port of entry. (references)

Travel

Chad

Gaoui: The best short visit from N'Djamena. (references)

West Bank

In Gaza the best available hospital is Shifa'. (references)

Egypt

Negotiating the fare is best done before the trip. (references)

Women

Ukraine

Many women's rights advocates expressed concern that the law may be used to bar women from the best paying blue-collar jobs. (references)

Burkina Faso

Either spouse can petition for divorce; custody of children is granted to either parent on the basis of the children's best interests. (references)

Kenya

Maendeleo Ya Wanawake, the nation's best known women's rights and welfare organization, was established as a nonpolitical NGO during the colonial era, but is aligned closely with the ruling party. (references)

Worker Rights

China

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

Spain

The main police school gives courses on trafficking issues, such as the recognition of fake documents and the best ways to identify traffickers. (references)

Yemen

Observers suggest that the Government likely would not tolerate the establishment of an alternative labor federation unless it believed such an establishment to be in its best interest. (references)

Lexicography

Devil's Dictionary

PLAN, v.t. To bother about the best method of accomplishing an accidental result.

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

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Spoken Usage: Best

SpeakerPhrase(s)

Dan Rather

Let me take the latter first, of course we have plans. But as we learned the last time, the best laid plans sometimes go awry. We certainly have plans to cover any major U.S. assault on Iraq.

Erin Runnion

Right. Right. I will do whatever the sheriff's department, whatever the district attorney's office feels is best in order to get him to never be able to hurt anybody.

John Kerry

Some of them to my best friends, literally my best friend at college, a couple of my best friends in Vietnam, and high school friends. They're there. And I go down and visit. I think we all do.

John Walsh

I've seen the worst of society and I've seen the best. When I was at Ground Zero I saw the horrible homicides that were committed there and the sadness, but I saw the best of America.

Katie Couric

You know, I've never been really obsessed with the ratings. And so, I try to do the best show we can.

Lisa Beamer

Morgan's Todd's middle name and Kay's my middle name. So we took the best of both of us and put them together in her name and in the person that she is.

Lynda Carter

They're both still living. But I have to say that I think my father is one of my best friends. He is just an inspiration, as is my mother.

Rush Limbaugh

Our belief is that history and facts are the best foundation on which to build anything, whether a belief, a philosophy, or a principle.

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

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Speeches: Best

SpeakerTermPhrase(s)

George Washington

1789-1797On this call, momentous in the extreme, I sought and weighted what might best subdue the crisis.

Thomas Jefferson

1801-1809For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well organized and armed militia is their best security.

Abraham Lincoln

1861-1865Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.

Harry S. Truman

1945-1953At a time when massive changes are occurring with lightning speed throughout the world, it is often difficult to perceive how this central objective is best served in one isolated complex situation or another.

Lyndon B. Johnson

1963-1969Even the best of government is subject to the worst of hazards.

Gerald Ford

1974-1977Always we have had the best of intentions.

Ronald Reagan

1981-1989Well, the best way to reduce deficits is through economic growth.

George Bush

1989-1993One reason is that you're patriots, and you want the best for your country.

Bill Clinton

1993-2001Some even wondered whether our best days were behind us.

George W. Bush

2001-2005America, at its best, is a place where personal responsibility is valued and expected.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Usage Frequency: Best

"Best" is generally used as an adjective (superlative) -- approximately 74.05% of the time. "Best" is used about 34,868 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not cov