upper hand

upper hand — idiom

1. having a stronger position than another person or group in a competitive situati

1.慣用語B2
釋義

having a stronger position than another person or group in a competitive situation, so that you are able to win or control what happens.

例句

After years of losses, the bakery gained the upper hand when a talented baker joined the team.

gain the upper hand — business competition

Asher kept the upper hand in the chess match and checkmated his opponent in twenty moves.

keep the upper hand — maintaining an advantage

同義詞
  • advantage

    broader term, used in any context without the fixed-phrase restriction

  • edge

    slightly more informal, common in sports and business

  • dominance

    stronger, implies nearly complete control

反義詞
  • disadvantage

    neutral opposite, can replace 'upper hand' in the same structures

  • lower hand

    rare, non-standard; used contrastively in informal speech

文法句型

[verb] + the upper hand + (over + noun)

用法筆記

Always used with one of the verbs 'have', 'get', 'gain', 'keep', or 'hold'. The person or group that is beaten is introduced by 'over' — for example, 'gained the upper hand over their rivals.'

常見錯誤

❌The team had a upper hand.
✅The team had the upper hand.
💡The expression always uses 'the', not 'a'.
❌She gained the upper hand of her rival.
✅She gained the upper hand over her rival.
💡After 'upper hand', use 'over', not 'of'.