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prefer

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English preferren, from Anglo-Norman preferer, from Latin praeferō. Displaced native Old English foresettan and foreberan.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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prefer (third-person singular simple present prefers, present participle preferring, simple past and past participle preferred)

  1. (transitive) To be in the habit of choosing something rather than something else; to favor; to like better. [from 14th c.]
    I prefer tea to coffee.
    I'd prefer it if you didn't do it.
    • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 15, column 2:
      You that will be leſſe fearefull, then diſcreet,
      That loue the fundamentall part of State
      More then you doubt the change on’t: That preferre
      A Noble life, before a Long, […]
    • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
      "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects; […]."
    • 1907, The Quarterly Review, volume 207, page 119:
      The February kid he should retain, also the full-grown goat; the goatling he should sell, also its kid, unless he prefers using it for the table. Thus he has not only a good supply of milk, but he has an early kid ready for next year, […]
    • 2017, Robert Sapolsky, Behave, Penguin, →ISBN:
      Similar, if milder, versions of the same are reported in some (but not all) studies of humans, ranging from the Wellesley effect, discussed in the introduction, to heterosexual women preferring the smell of high-testosterone men.
    • 2019 February 26, James Graham, Adam Johnson, “The Return of the Inexplicable Republican Best Friend”, in FAIR.org:
      You don’t attack politicians because you prefer them; you attack them because you’re scared of them.
  2. (transitive, now dated) To advance, promote (someone or something). [from 14th c.]
    • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 318, column 2:
      So ſhall you haue a ſhorter iourney to your deſires, by the meanes I ſhall then haue to preferre them. And the impediment moſt profitably remoued, without the which there were no expectation of our proſperitie.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Esther 2:9, column 2:
      And the maiden pleaſed him, and ſhe obtained kindneſſe of him, […], and hee preferred her and her maids, vnto the beſt place of the houſe of the women.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 2:
      Tiberius preferred many to honours in his time, because they were famous whoremasters and sturdy drinkers […].
    • 1743, Drury, Robert (sailor; author), THE Pleaſant, and Surprizing ADVENTURES OF Mr. Robert Drury, DURING HIS Fifteen Years CAPTIVITY on the Iſland OF MADAGASCAR‎[1], London, published 1743, →OCLC, page 67:
      For this Reaſon, I preſume, it was, that ſhe took ſo much Compaſſion upon me ; conſidering herſelf a Slave in a ſtrange Country, and on­ly preferr’d to my Maſter’s Bed by Courteſy.
  3. (transitive) To present or submit (something) to an authority (now usually in "to prefer charges"). [from 16th c.]
  4. (obsolete, transitive) To put forward for acceptance; to introduce, recommend (to). [16th–19th c.]

Usage notes

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  • The verb can be used in three different forms:
    1. prefer + noun + to (or over) + noun. Example: I prefer coffee to tea.
    2. prefer + gerund + to (or over) + gerund. Example: I prefer skiing to swimming.
    3. prefer + full infinitive + rather than + bare infinitive. Example: I prefer to die honorably rather than live in shame. If the second verb is the same as the first, it can be elided: I prefer to eat fish rather than meat.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Translations

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Chinese

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Etymology

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From English prefer.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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prefer

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to prefer (to favor)

Romanian

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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prefer

  1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of prefera
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