 | | | | | | Well off, better off | | | Mariano from Spain writes: | | |  | How do I understand the sentence: We are better off than you.? Does it always refer to questions related to money? For instance: We have got more money than you. I don’t think so. | | | Roger Woodham replies: | well-off Well-off relates mainly to money matters. If you are well-off, you may not be rich exactly, but you have enough money to live well and comfortably: By central European standards they are quite well-off They have their own flat and drive new cars. well-off for However, if you say you are well-off for something, this means that there are many of them: We’re well-off for coffee shops in this town. There’s one at every corner in the High Street. better-off The comparative form of this adjective is better-off which is used to talk about the varying degrees of wealth different people have: We’re not as well-off as the Jones’s. They’re definitely better-off than we are. Just look at the way they dress! If you’ve got heavy bags to carry, you’d be better-off taking a taxi. It says on the sign that the motorway ahead is blocked. You’ll be better-off if you leave the motorway at this junction which is coming up now. the better-off The better-off is sometimes used as a noun to describe a category of people, cf the rich / the poor: The rich and the poor live side-by-side in this part of town.
The better-off should pay a higher rate of income tax, while those who are worst-off should pay no tax at all. | | |
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