melhores

Melhores is the plural form of the Portuguese adjective melhor, which means "best" or "better" depending on the context. In standard usage, melhor is the comparative form and melhores is its plural. The word agrees with the noun in number (and gender, with the plural form melhores used for both masculine and feminine nouns). It can function as a determiner, attributive adjective, or as a predicative complement, as in os melhores candidatos, as melhores opções, or estes são os melhores.

Etymologically, melhor derives from the Latin melior, the comparative of bonus. It has cognates in other Romance languages, such as mejor in Spanish and meilleur in French. The plural form melhores appears in ordinary speech and writing to describe multiple items or people that are considered superior within a category.

Common usages include describing quality or ranking, such as melhores práticas (best practices), os melhores restaurantes (the best restaurants), or as a noun phrase meaning “the best ones” when the noun is omitted. In fixed expressions, melhores is widely seen in industry and media discourse to denote superior standards, recommendations, or comparisons. The term is versatile across lusophone contexts, from Portugal to Brazil and other Portuguese-speaking regions, and remains a frequent descriptor in everyday language as well as formal writing.