had better

Idioms  

1. Also, had best. Ought to, should. For example, You had better finish this one before starting another, or We had best be going. [Mid-1400s] Also see you'd better believe it.

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Example Sentences

The authors noted that the study focused on children living in relatively higher-income areas in California who were enrolled in commercial insurance plans, meaning they generally had better access to health care.

From Science Daily

But the three in the back had better be hobbits.

From The Wall Street Journal

All that means is the company had better deliver when management speaks on Tuesday evening.

From Barron's

The system basically guarantees the annual Mad Lib rant from at least a few upset schools: “We had ______ better than _____ and our _______ was three times ________ and according to the metrics, and _____ weren’t even in the top _____! It’s _______, I’m telling you!”

From The Wall Street Journal

“Whatever the time is in America it is always, at every moment, the mad and wayward hour when the prince is finding the little foot that alone fits into the slipper of glass. . . . Ours is a story mad with the impossible, it is by chaos out of dream. . . . The simplest truth you can ever write about our history will be charged and surcharged with romanticism, and if you are afraid of the word you had better start practicing seriously on your fiddle.”

From The Wall Street Journal