upper hand

upper hand — 慣用語

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

1.慣用語B2
釋義

優勢；上風

比對手更有利的地位或掌控權

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.

虧損多年後，這家烘焙坊在一位才華洋溢的師傅加入後取得了上風。

gain the upper hand — business competition

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

Asher 在西洋棋對弈中始終保持優勢，僅用二十步就將死了對手。

keep the upper hand — maintaining an advantage

常見搭配
  • gain the upper hand
  • have the upper hand
  • get the upper hand
  • keep the upper hand
  • hold the upper hand
  • the upper hand over
  • the upper hand in
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'.