preferable

See also: préférable

English

Alternative forms

• præferable (archaic)
• preferrable

Etymology

From French préférable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛf(ə)ɹəb(ə)l/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /pɹəˈfɜːɹəb(ə)l/ (less common)

Adjective

preferable (comparative more preferable, superlative most preferable)

1. Better than some other option; preferred.
   • 1756, George Benson, “The Præface. To the First Edition.”, in The History of the First Planting of the Christian Religion: Taken from the Acts of the Apostles, and Their Epistles. Together with the Remarkable Facts of the Jewish and Roman History; Which Affected the Christians, Within This Period., the second edition, volume the first, London: […] J. Waugh and W. Fenner, page v:

     This work has been the care and ſtudy of ſome years; as far as health, and other affairs, would permit. For, this appeared, to the author, of as much greater importance, than any other hiſtory whatever; as morality and religion are more excellent, than any temporal affairs; and the hiſtory of true religion, præferrable to that of impoſtures and deluſions.

   • 2007, Ted Honderich, On political means and social ends, →ISBN, page 94:

     It is not to the point that an inequality of material goods, at high levels, may not be preferable to an equality of material goods at a lower level, precisely for such reasons as self-respect.

Derived terms

• preferableness
• preferably
• unpreferable

Translations

better than some other option

• Arabic: مُفَضَّل (mufaḍḍal), أَفْضَل (ʔafḍal)
• Belarusian: найле́пшы (najljépšy), ле́пшы (ljépšy)
• Bulgarian: предпочи́тан (bg) (predpočítan)
• Catalan: preferible
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 更合意的 (gèng héyì de), 更適宜的／更适宜的 (gèng shìyí de), 更可取的 (gèng kěqǔ de), 較好／较好, 较好的 (jiàohǎo de), 更好的 (gèng hǎo de)

• Czech: výhodnější (cs)
• Finnish: parempi (fi)
• French: préférable (fr)
• Georgian: უმჯობესი (umǯobesi), უპირატესი (uṗiraṭesi)
• German: bevorzugt (de)
• Greek: προτιμητέος (el) (protimitéos)
• Italian: preferibile (it)
• Japanese: ましな (ja) (mashi na), 〜より好ましい (ja) (～よりこのましい, -yori konomashii)
• Korean: 더 좋다 (deo jota)
• Latin: potior
• Macedonian: претпочитлив (pretpočitliv)
• Norman: préféthabl'ye
• Polish: lepszy (pl), odpowiedniejszy, bardziej odpowiedni
• Portuguese: preferível
• Romanian: preferabil (ro)
• Russian: предпочти́тельный (ru) (predpočtítelʹnyj), наилу́чший (ru) (nailúčšij), лу́чший (ru) (lúčšij)
• Sanskrit: श्रेयस् (sa) (śreyas)
• Slovak: výhodnejší
• Spanish: preferible
• Ukrainian: кра́щий (kráščyj), найкра́щий (najkráščyj), найлі́пший (najlípšyj)