tops
- 1Plural of top. Use this when you mean more than one top.
The kids spun their tops on the kitchen floor.
She folded her tops and put them away in the drawer.
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- 2Third-person singular simple present of top. Use this with he, she, or it.
She tops her cereal with fresh fruit every morning.
He tops the class in math this year.
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- 3At the most, used to give the highest amount and no more.
Like the highest line on a measuring cup: nothing goes above it.
The whole trip will cost fifty dollars tops.
It takes ten minutes tops to walk there.
Similarmax
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- 4The top part of a dartboard, where you hit the double twenty.
She aimed for tops and finished the game with a clean double.
He needed tops to win and sank the dart perfectly.
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Less common meaning
- 5Very good, and the best of its kind.
Like getting a gold star for being the best.
Everyone agreed the new teacher was tops.
This is tops for a musical. Popular with the audience.
1938, Motion Picture Herald, numbers 7-13Here, tops means very good, the best of its kind.Similarexcellent, splendid, first-rate, grand
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Showing meanings only.
tops is a form of top
top, noun: The highest part of something, or the part that is usually highest. Full entry
- Forms
- toptops plural
- Spelling
- top → tops: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /s/.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of tops apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
Probably from "top" plus "-s".