Definition of "well-won" [well-won]

• Honestly gained; hard ly earned.

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "Unless you are prepared to argue that the undecideds of NY are just as attentive to right-wing smear peddlers as the undecideds of genunine swing-states, then it is not clear to me that her well-won wins in NY really speak to the point you are trying to make."
• "_8, _9 So edition 1870 wanting 1832 — “But not the blessings of thy happier lot,/Nor thy well-won prosperity, and fame” 1847."
• "He was sent home to rest and to recruit his old regiments, and was given the well-won rank of major general."