prefer

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

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

Pronunciation

[edit]

Verb

[edit]

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; […]."
    • 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

[edit]
  • 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

[edit]

Antonyms

[edit]
[edit]

Translations

[edit]

Chinese

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From English prefer.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Verb

[edit]

prefer

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

Romanian

[edit]

Pronunciation

[edit]

Verb

[edit]

prefer

  1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of prefera
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=prefer&oldid=82120119"