Idiom
The best of both worlds
The best of both worlds is a situation in which you enjoy the advantages of two different things at the same time.
How people use it
People use it when a choice seems to combine two benefits that usually compete (working from home two days a week gives me the best of both worlds). Common verbs include have, get, enjoy and offer. It is neutral and positive, though people sometimes say you can't have the best of both worlds to mean every choice has a cost. It is almost always used with the.
Also said: have the best of both worlds.
Examples
- Living near the city but on a quiet street gives our family the best of both worlds.
- The course offers the best of both worlds: online lessons and a weekly class in person.
- Priya gets the best of both worlds at her job, with a steady salary and time to travel.
Where it comes from
The phrase has been used in English for several centuries. In older writing, 'both worlds' often meant this life and the life after death, and writers spoke of making the best of both. The everyday sense, for combining two different advantages, grew out of that and is now the usual one.
Check yourself
1. What does having the best of both worlds mean?
Answer: Enjoying the benefits of two different things at once. The phrase means combining two advantages that usually do not go together.
2. Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Answer: A beach town with a big library gives Ben the best of both worlds.. A place with two things Ben loves fits. Losing two things is the opposite, and the astronaut sentence is literal.
Similar idioms
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