On this article, I came across the use of a word winningest.
It isn't a surprise that the experts still reckon that when in doubt, think about it and then decide to bat anyway, for that used to be the winningest strategy when most of them played the game.
Is this an acceptable word? If not, then is there a single word or phrase to replace it? (As opposed to reordering the words to strategy most likely to lead to a win.
I looked around on the internet and found out that it is an informal word, which means one with most wins. However, in the above context, it seems to mean one most likely to lead to a win. Is this article using the word wrongly (informal as it may be), or did I interpret in wrong?
Further, is it also acceptable to use winninger similarly?
Best Answer
It depends on context.
No, in most formal contexts you should not use this word.
No, you should not use this word even in informal contexts outside the US. It is an Americanism (although it appears to a lesser extent in other countries).
Yes, it's fine in certain informal contexts. It's particularly used in the discussion of sports, as in the page you link to. It's easily understood and surprisingly common in this context.
And I think you've got the meaning right. Even with well-established words, meaning tends to be fairly flexible. With a word like this that is only accepted in some informal contexts, meaning is more flexible still. It's not so much a matter of "right" and "wrong", but "Did they communicate successfully?" And since you understood, it seems that they did!
And no, don't say *winninger. It's understandable (at least in certain contexts), and you can say it if you really want to, but even people who say winningest don't say winninger.