Win

win

A person who beats the competition and has the best performance wins. He or she is the winner. Winning is the opposite of losing. The word "win" is an irregular verb:

• Their team has won ten games so far this season. (This sentence is in the present perfect tense.)
• Theresa always wins when she plays ping pong (ping pong = table tennis) .
• The game was won in overtime. (This sentence is in the passive voice.)
• You won’t win if you don’t try.
• Who’s winning?

He won the race. He’s the winner.

The word "win" is also a noun:

• How many wins does he have?
• Their team had twelve wins last year.
• They need another three wins in order to get into the playoffs.
• Who was the winner? (The winner is a person.)

The word "winning" is a gerund:

• Winning is the objective for most people who play games.
• It’s important to remember that winning isn’t everything.
• Do you like winning games?
• Who made the winning goal?

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This page was first published on August 2, 2012. It was updated on June 29, 2015.