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What is "prefer"

Crossword clues for prefer

prefer
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
prefer
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
prefer/favour an approach
▪ I prefer a traditional approach.
sb’s preferred optionformal (= the option someone likes best)
▪ The new scheme appears to be the airport management’s preferred option.
would like/love/prefer
▪ Yes, please, I’d love a coffee.
▪ My parents would like to meet you.
▪ Claudia would have liked to refuse wanted to refuse, but she didn’t dare.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
always
▪ Slowly, they found a way to talk of the things Josh had always preferred to discuss with his father.
▪ The oral route is always preferred.
▪ Although much improved in version 4, I've always preferred HyperDisk.
▪ But talented, independent thinkers always prefer to dress themselves.
▪ I've always preferred a Precision to a Jazz because of the way that a Precision plays.
▪ When hiring band members, Lawrence always preferred less talented musicians of good character over brilliant musicians of unstable character.
▪ I always prefer players with some colour and individuality in their sound, usually with some distortion.
▪ This was more or less true, for the simple reason that I have always preferred to be the one pursued.
instead
▪ He refuses to wear the ceremonial purple of a bishop, preferring instead simple monastic robes.
▪ Careful growers use none of these, preferring instead a grain diet with some chicken fat.
▪ They preferred instead to use the designation related to the setting - neighbour, for example.
▪ Playing singles, he never got far, preferring instead the strategic intricacies of doubles.
▪ He prefers instead to hold meetings with his colleagues and to talk things through until a solution emerges.
▪ But the sun seldom came sideways, preferring instead to strike straight down from above.
▪ Suppose that a firm decided never to pay dividends, preferring instead to reward shareholders entirely through capital gains.
much
▪ And I'd much prefer it if that didn't happen.
▪ He much preferred to limit the scope of his inquiry to the field of geometrics.
▪ The elongated seats were much preferred.
▪ Loi had announced that he much preferred sleeping on the raft even after he received his visa.
▪ He would have much preferred the hysterical crying, the accusations of lack of love for her to that.
▪ She would have much preferred to sit on the rock and drink in the scenery.
▪ They had very much preferred it when she had been obsessed with Abba.
▪ The artists get along well with their neighbors, who much prefer to have the sprawling place occupied, they said.
often
▪ Hence, dye-in-liquid experiments are often preferred.
▪ Although not completely pain free, they often prefer this management to any type of surgical procedure.
▪ Flight whirring; can rocket upwards with remarkable acceleration when startled, though often prefer to run.
▪ These students often prefer the company of younger children.
▪ Because of this, even those who could afford professional labour will often prefer to do it themselves.
▪ Accordingly, business owners often prefer to take out most corporate profits as salary.
▪ They often prefer to withhold sales rather than accept a lower price because of the consequences for other sales.
▪ Couples that do decide to have a child often prefer boys.
still
▪ Governments caring sufficiently about redistribution might still prefer inefficient allocations with greater vertical equity.
▪ He still preferred the pen to any other instrument.
▪ By and large, people still prefer not to acknowledge these issues for which there is no comfortable rule.
▪ And while men still prefer Dole to Clinton, that margin is not large enough to overcome the contrary female vote.
▪ Many peasants, particularly the less well off, still preferred the priest as a source of education.
▪ I still prefer my original state of having been deceived.
▪ Now, he said, most acquisitive companies would still prefer to do friendly transactions.
■ NOUN
others
▪ Some artists prefer the springy sensitivity of an open canvas whilst others prefer the hardness or smoothness of a board.
▪ If some families favor expressing anger through icy silence, others prefer a more fiery style, whether through word or deed.
▪ Some people like this, others prefer a more formal approach.
▪ This rejection fear compounds the anxiety that others are preferred and also maybe preferable-the root of sibling rivalry.
▪ Many drinkers enjoy the freshness and vitality of a young Chardonnay Champagne, while others prefer some maturity.
▪ Instead, they mark citations as they are proofreading their text. Others prefer to mark citations as they type.
▪ Some people are very independent; others prefer to do more together.
▪ Some wore them full-length; others preferred to roll them in half before knotting them.
people
▪ By and large, people still prefer not to acknowledge these issues for which there is no comfortable rule.
▪ Some people prefer tours, while others like to gallery hop unescorted and at their own pace.
▪ Indeed, many people prefer to remove their shoes when being hypnotized, as they find this more comfortable.
▪ Sometimes people prefer to use an Internet nickname or handle, which can be anything you like.
▪ Some people prefer different line lengths.
▪ The way people prefer to learn varies.
▪ Many people seem to prefer that kind of anonymous system.
reason
▪ I see little reason to prefer strains of lettuce, for instance, that are inherently poisonous to pests.
▪ For all these reasons, engineers prefer to design a reasonably stiff building.
▪ Repetition of words can create the same sort of chain as pronouns, and there are sometimes good reasons for preferring it.
▪ Both men had reason to prefer the gloom, for one was a traitor and the other a spy.
▪ So both have a reason of justice for preferring some other solution to the checkerboard one.
▪ The reason I prefer the Methodist faith is because it has the simplest form.
■ VERB
seem
▪ Superficially it may seem reasonable to prefer a firmly-held end to a faint altruistic stirring which is easily dismissed.
▪ Henry himself seemed to prefer IsabelIa, especially as she seemed willing to agree not to marry without his consent.
▪ His secondary theme is Athens, which on the whole he seems to prefer.
▪ Hannah had seemed to prefer firm holding to light touches.
▪ He seemed to prefer to go travelling with his fellow students.
▪ After all, Symington, like them, is a man who seems to prefer politicking about business to just doing business.
▪ Fabien also, of course, but it was always me that she seemed to prefer - or so I liked to think.
▪ He seemed to prefer it that way.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ "Which restaurant shall we go to?'' "I really don't mind. Whichever one you prefer.''
▪ Brad Pitt? Oh no, I much prefer Russell Crowe!
▪ Dave wants to go to New York again, but I'd prefer somewhere more exotic.
▪ French people usually prefer to buy goods that are made in France.
▪ I'm beginning to like Japanese food. I certainly prefer rice to potatoes.
▪ Mark likes lying on the beach, but I prefer visiting museums.
▪ Most of my friends take the bus to school, but I prefer to walk.
▪ She doesn't like romantic fiction -- she much prefers detective stories.
▪ She seems to prefer watching soap operas to talking to me.
▪ Which bread do you prefer, brown or white?
▪ Which color do you prefer - blue or red?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A dedicated bread eater will usually prefer a dense, sour, small, moist, round pumpernickel to a light rye.
▪ Cops and gangsters alike prefer to see pachinko remain uneasily in limbo.
▪ Gina could crawl in beside them or sleep on the sofa downstairs if she preferred.
▪ He would prefer to help boost poor working families' incomes through tax breaks.
▪ If invested instead in bonds or preferred stock, that same dollar would be worth less than $ 1, 000.
▪ She preferred the sizzling animosity between them to this ... this awkwardness.
▪ When I wrote to congratulate him on the latter, he telephoned, which he apparently preferred to writing.
▪ You can ask to speak to a lesbian if you prefer.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Prefer

Prefer \Pre*fer"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Preferred; p. pr. & vb. n. Preferring.] [F. pr['e]f['e]rer, L. praeferre; prae before + ferre to bear or carry. See 1st Bear.]

  1. To carry or bring (something) forward, or before one; hence, to bring for consideration, acceptance, judgment, etc.; to offer; to present; to proffer; to address; -- said especially of a request, prayer, petition, claim, charge, etc.

    He spake, and to her hand preferred the bowl.
    --Pope.

    Presently prefer his suit to C[ae]sar.
    --Shak.

    Three tongues prefer strange orisons on high.
    --Byron.

  2. To go before, or be before, in estimation; to outrank; to surpass. [Obs.] ``Though maidenhood prefer bigamy.''
    --Chaucer.

  3. To cause to go before; hence, to advance before others, as to an office or dignity; to raise; to exalt; to promote; as, to prefer an officer to the rank of general.

    I would prefer him to a better place.
    --Shak.

  4. To set above or before something else in estimation, favor, or liking; to regard or honor before another; to hold in greater favor; to choose rather; -- often followed by to, before, or above.

    If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
    --Ps. cxxxvii. 6.

    Preferred an infamous peace before a most just war.
    --Knolles.

    Preferred stock, stock which takes a dividend before other capital stock; -- called also preference stock and preferential stock.

    Syn: To choose; elect. See Choose.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
prefer

late 14c., "to put forward or advance in rank or fortune, to promote," from Old French preferer (14c.) and directly from Latin praeferre "place or set before, carry in front," from prae "before" (see pre-) + ferre "to carry, to place" (see infer). Meaning "to esteem (something) more than others" also is recorded from late 14c. Original sense in English is preserved in preferment.

Wiktionary
prefer

vb. 1 (lb en transitive now dated) To advance, promote (someone). (from 14thc.) 2 (lb en transitive) To be in the habit of choosing something rather than something else; to favor; to like better. (from 14thc.) 3 (lb en transitive) To present or submit (something) to an authority (now usually in "to prefer charges"). (from 16thc.) 4 (lb en obsolete transitive) To put forward for acceptance; to introduce, recommend ((term: to)). (16th-19thc.)

Related phrases:
WordNet
prefer

  1. v. like better; value more highly; "Some people prefer camping to staying in hotels"; "We prefer sleeping outside"

  2. select as an alternative; choose instead; prefer as an alternative; "I always choose the fish over the meat courses in this restaurant"; "She opted for the job on the East coast" [syn: choose, opt]

  3. promote over another; "he favors his second daughter" [syn: favor, favour]

  4. give preference to one creditor over another

  5. [also: preferring, preferred]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Related phrases:

Usage examples of "prefer".

It also prefers the savor of those who have allowed their receptor planes to tarnish with succulent trace elements, spewed up by the hot accretion disk below.

These were the sections which more closely mirrored conditions on the sort of mainly methane-atmosphered planets and moons the Affront preferred, and it was in these the Affront indulged their greatest passion, by going hunting.

Generally speaking, he prefers bright tints to darker ones, but his likes and dislikes are capricious, and with regard to some colors his antipathy amounts to positive horror.

Invalids have often preferred this plant to the Scurvy grass as an antiscorbutic remedy.

Her hair fell loose and tangled over her shoulders, because she had not been offered a thong to tie it up with, and she wore the odd alien clothing that the Antler affected, rather than the animal skins her people wore in the cold season, or the nudity they preferred in the heat.

On the one hand, he was conservative architecturally, preferring Gothic buttresses as a means of support, and his attempt to raise the buttresses of the tribunes may have been not only out of concern for visibility but also an attempt to use the tribunes and buttresses as supporting members for the dome.

I appointed the collector, as I thought, on your written recommendation, and the assessor also with your testimony of worthiness, although I know you preferred a different man.

They prefer to remain in one place and move only when the entire Associative moves to a new location.

Edgar arrived, Sir Hugh told him of the affair, assuring him he should never have taken amiss his preferring Camilla, which he thought but natural, if he had only done it from the first.

But, except in mild cases, other more positively astringent herbs are to be preferred.

Some preferred the Autumnal Equinox, because then the harvests were gathered, and the hopes of a new crop were deposited in the bosom of the earth.

It was thawing a little, as if Bradley had completed the job of sizing Bannerman up and had decided that he would prefer to talk with him rather than seem to have any contact with Maritta.

After this, of her own movement, she never spoke of Gordon, and Bernard made up his mind that she had promised her mother to accept him if he should repeat his proposal, and that as her heart was not in the matter she preferred to drop a veil over the prospect.

Usually, the high bettors would stand right at the track, so they would park their carriages farther away, leaving the circle around the track for those people who preferred to watch with their ladies from the comfort of their vehicles.

Whatever Hal was after, by definition it would be something which Bleys would prefer he did not have.