How to Use at best in a Sentence

at best

phrase
  • For years, testing was spotty at best, and doctors often weren’t aware of the syndrome.
    — Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, 29 June 2026
  • Merlin Rohl has been trialled there in pre-season games, but that looks like a partial fit at best.
    — Luke Bosher, New York Times, 31 July 2026
  • But the ventures were met with, at best, mixed reviews and, at worst, outright hostility.
    — Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2026
  • The school has invested heavily in the team, but results have been average at best to this point.
    — David Troy Outkick, FOXNews.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Most highway expansion projects are justified on travel time savings that are at best short lived.
    — Pete Harrison, Hartford Courant, 6 July 2026
  • Arredondo is a fringe prospect at best and that trade was really lopsided in favor of the Rangers.
    — Jim Bowden, New York Times, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Most of these posts and videos barely get any attention, racking up only, at best, a few hundred likes and a few thousand views.
    — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 6 Aug. 2026
  • For the novice, wine can be mysterious at best, and intimidating at worst.
    — Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Afghanistan’s women are today treated like property at best, and criminals at worst.
    — Mark Sappenfield, Christian Science Monitor, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Conventional rules are at best just that, conventional; at worst, bad advice.
    — Forbes.com, 23 July 2026
  • That is an impressive track record for any artist, as many successful acts have only seen one or two efforts (at best) accomplish the feat.
    — Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026
  • Policy proposals such as raising the minimum wage can have a modest impact, at best, on the wealth gap.
    — Peter Georgescu, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026
  • Trump devotees are left with incomplete (at best) information.
    — Brian Stelter, CNN Money, 4 Aug. 2026
  • There would be criticism of the league’s half-hearted (at best) effort to increase the number of Black coaches.
    — Will Leitch, Washington Post, 10 Sep. 2026
  • His work habits are inconsistent at best, and his lack of follow-through directly affects my ability to do my job well.
    — Harriette Cole, Mercury News, 24 July 2026
  • The cost of attending has become eye-watering at best, prohibitive at worst.
    — Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Caulfield is not accusing Audible of theft, but is making clear how the rights situation is murky at best.
    — Jake Kanter, Deadline, 3 Sep. 2026
  • Players, coaches, and analysts all agreed that the red card was harsh at best, and inaccurately given at worst.
    — Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 6 July 2026
  • To think that risk disappears when hiring an expert is, at best, naïve and, at worst, strategically negligent.
    — Vicente Pava, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
  • The science behind human pheromones, however, is wishy-washy at best, and maximizing odor may also be putting your love life in a funk.
    — Devika Rao, TheWeek, 22 Sep. 2026
  • As long as these two men lead their respective countries, the likelihood is that their summits will barely be able to manage the rivalry at best.
    — Orville Schell, Foreign Affairs, 16 Sep. 2026
  • And even though access to such banalities may sound brain-deadening, and at best dull, some of the most famous people in the world are now live-streamers.
    — Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2026
  • And without one, treatment becomes guesswork, ineffective at best, harmful at worst.
    — Jerome Groopman, The New York Review of Books, 5 Sep. 2026
  • The original decision to hand Baloguin a red card was, at best, terrible.
    — Mac Engel july 5, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 July 2026
  • Today, by contrast, the legal position of private actors is, at best, uncertain.
    — Rainer Zitelmann, Space.com, 11 Aug. 2026
  • This month’s headline reading is expected to show a small increase at best as higher gas prices and lower auto sales likely weighed on consumer spending.
    — Bill Stone, Forbes.com, 9 Aug. 2026
  • Disenfranchising or, at best, confusing their voters risks their own electoral success, too.
    — Sorelle Wyckoff Gaynor, The Conversation, 17 July 2026
  • Collecting bureaucrats’ signatures is at best a distraction from those efforts.
    — Editorial, Boston Herald, 16 July 2026
  • If a claim is substantiated, the plagiarist is seen as sloppy or lazy at best, and fundamentally dishonest at worst.
    — Roger J. Kreuz, The Conversation, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Five-time World Cup winners Brazil have the attackers for it, but their midfield and defence were at best meandering, at worst anaemic.
    — Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 11 July 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'at best.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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