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What is "preference"

Crossword clues for preference

preference
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
preference
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
in order of importance/priority/preference etc
▪ The country’s main exports were, in order of importance, coffee, sugar, and soya beans.
personal taste/preference
▪ What you plant in your garden is ultimately a matter of personal preference.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
clear
▪ Put more accurately, individual judges may be clear as to their preferences but those preferences do not always coincide.
▪ The recent well publicised survey of public opinion showed a clear preference for treatment in centres of excellence.
▪ Despite the limitations of the survey it did suggest some clear habitat preferences and population trends.
▪ Despite the clear overall preference for first-cousins, the data were highly variable.
▪ So, all told, roughly three-quarters or more of recent cash buyers had a clear preference for cash.
convertible
▪ It is widely expected that bondholders will then be asked to convert some of their holdings into a new convertible preference share.
different
▪ The two texts simply address different readerships and in so doing reflect different textual preferences.
▪ In addition each shows a different preference for quantitative forecasts, compared with more qualitative outlooks.
▪ The above examples illustrate that different preferences exist across languages for certain general patterns of reference.
▪ How are we to understand their different feeding preferences?
▪ As the programmes developed, some teams began to include a range of options to meet different needs and preferences.
▪ As with coupons, there are different preferences among investors regarding term to maturity.
female
▪ Experimental studies on birds and fish have shown that male ornaments can be favoured by female mating preferences.
▪ Why must we explain these female preferences only in terms of the effects on their sons and daughters?
▪ If the best choose the brightest, female preference and male trait will evolve together.
▪ So the female preference for Clinton was 5 percentage points higher than the male preference.
individual
▪ There are four plans available to cater for individual preferences.
▪ Across occupations, pension ages vary arbitrarily and do not show any systematic relationship to individual skills or preferences.
▪ How else is the individual to discover individual tastes and preferences?
▪ This partnership can take a variety of forms, depending on particular circumstances and individual preferences.
▪ We did not want to impose this restriction here but wanted to let the data reveal individual preferences.
▪ Ask every resident what they would like and try to satisfy individual preferences.
▪ The use made of a library depended on the individual planner's preference.
▪ The choice seems to depend very much on the individual preferences of the supervisor.
parental
▪ However, the 1980 Act requires parental preference to be granted unless one of the exceptions applies.
▪ Views may differ as to whether the religious leaning of the school or parental preference should prevail.
personal
▪ It fit his personal preference to use humor at work and to have warm, informal relationships with his people.
▪ What criteria would I apply, you ask? Personal preference, of course.
▪ Most of us arrange our bedrooms based purely on personal preference.
▪ My recommendations are no more than guide-lines based on my own judgment and personal preference.
▪ And if evil is said not to exist, only personal preferences are left to decide moral behavior.
▪ Both are effective and it's really a matter of personal preference which you choose.
▪ Using whole chicken or bones is a matter of personal preference.
political
▪ But they like to keep their political preferences to themselves.
▪ On some questions, however, ideas must be accommodated to the political preferences of the particular audience.
▪ Our analyses of voters' information levels and their changing political preferences confirm and even strengthen that finding.
▪ Over the following year Mirror readers as well as Guardian and Telegraph readers proved relatively stable in their political preferences.
▪ The lower orders eventually expressed their political preferences rather differently.
racial
▪ The continuing, and heated, judicial debate on racial preference indicates that the ultimate outcome of this controversy remains in doubt.
▪ Jackson called on them to keep up the fight to retain racial and gender preferences in federal hiring.
▪ It would ban racial and gender preferences in all state government hiring, contracting and education programs.
▪ Earlier, he opposed Prop. 209, which would ban racial and gender preferences in state programs.
▪ The two made it clear they oppose any program based on racial preference, calling them exclusionary.
strong
▪ Managers in excellent companies have a strong preference for doing things rather than analysing situations.
▪ In these peculiar circumstances, Bowman felt a strong preference for using it.
▪ When he provided nests on two tiers, hens showed a strong preference for the lower level.
▪ By and large, any given chemical shows a strong preference for one particular shape of crystal.
▪ The raccoon has a strong preference for aquatic feeding.
▪ That means anyone with a strong preference for aisle or window needs to be first in some line.
▪ That celebrated interlude is associated with the strong preference for peace of Sir Robert Walpole.
▪ Nearly every study uses more than one method, though there is often a strong preference for either survey-style research or participant observation.
■ NOUN
consumer
▪ Market research showed considerable differences in consumer preferences in various countries.
▪ An unfavorable change in consumer preferences will cause demand to decrease, shifting the curve to the left.
▪ It is marketing and money that fuel the lager bandwagon, not consumer preference.
▪ The Limited tracks consumer preferences daily using point-of-sale computers.
▪ He doubts whether the consumer preferences reported by market research teams can be translated into products with sufficient accuracy.
▪ Coupons generated electronically at the cash register are popular across the country, because they mirror consumer preferences.
▪ Companies that use refund coupons are now developing a huge data base of information on consumer preferences, Wright says.
food
▪ Next, in easy stages, you will need to reshape some of your food preferences.
▪ People's eating habits and food preferences are learned; they are habits that become ingrained over a period of years.
▪ We may also have a heightened sense of smell before periods, exaggerating any food preferences.
▪ The child shows developmentally inappropriate feeding behaviour and food preferences.
▪ What slim people are actually like in terms of food intake Food preferences are obviously a very individual matter.
gender
▪ Jackson called on them to keep up the fight to retain racial and gender preferences in federal hiring.
▪ It would ban racial and gender preferences in all state government hiring, contracting and education programs.
▪ Earlier, he opposed Prop. 209, which would ban racial and gender preferences in state programs.
liquidity
▪ The liquidity preference curve will tend to be less elastic.
▪ A rising yield curve can be explained by liquidity preference theory.
▪ Are shoppers somehow at fault if they have no concept of liquidity preference?
▪ This is simply the result of a downward sloping liquidity preference curve.
▪ The phenomenon of liquidity preference can find no place in a model that admits of only one asset, fiat money.
▪ The more elastic the liquidity preference curve, the more idle balances will fall.
share
▪ The issue of perpetual preference shares is being offered by underwriters led by Lehman Brothers.
▪ The offer also values each Lloyds preference share at 255. 5 pence.
▪ Preference shares, particularly redeemable preference shares, are sometimes considered to be more akin to loan stock than share capital.
▪ Equity Capital is available in amounts from £100,000 and normally consists of a mix of preference share capital and ordinary equity.
▪ The dividends are usually paid in priority to dividends on all other shares except for preference shares.
▪ Should the parent undertaking's consolidated balance sheet show a minority interest in respect of the preference shares?
▪ Ordinary or preference shares may be issued.
shareholder
▪ Subordinated loan stock will rank behind all unsecured creditors but ahead of preference shareholders and ordinary shareholders.
▪ If the parent company has provided the preference shareholders with a guarantee, it may be possible to recognise a minority interest.
▪ Normally, however, ordinary shareholders expect lower yields than preference shareholders and loan stock holders because of their participation rights.
vote
▪ My effective vote could be my first preference vote, in which case all my other preferences are null and void.
■ VERB
based
▪ Store managers have a wide discretion to select what clothing, shoes and accessories their stores sell, based on local preferences.
▪ Most of us arrange our bedrooms based purely on personal preference.
▪ That an atheist regime was likely to take scant notice of advice based on religious preference is self-evident.
▪ The two made it clear they oppose any program based on racial preference, calling them exclusionary.
choose
▪ The victims of a burglary are often puzzled as to why the thief chose their home in preference to others.
▪ Choice of bile acid - Ursodeoxycholic acid was chosen in preference to chenodeoxycholic acid because it is virtually free from side effects.
▪ In the drawing used here the effortless decision has been chosen in preference to the one that required a little more effort.
▪ Mr Campbell is thought to have been chosen in preference to Charlotte Hudson, the chief reporter on Watchdog.
express
▪ He spent some time expressing his preference, for tactical reasons, for smaller neutron bombs before developing his argument.
▪ Newspapers can and do express partisan preferences.
▪ That restriction prevented voters who value experience from expressing their preferences when voting, she said.
▪ In neither case is there any need to invite the driver to express his preference for giving blood or urine.
▪ I rarely spoke to express preferences, preferring to use body language.
▪ Be prepared to express your preference to your attendants.
▪ Depending on the form of government, the voters express their preferences with regard to public decisions.
give
▪ Nor does it follow that this second meaning should be given pedagogic preference over the first.
▪ Last year the court narrowed the scope of affirmative action programs that give minorities preference in such matters as employment and education.
▪ It is with no disrespect to her that I give him preference.
▪ I have capriciously given my second preference to a candidate of the Communist Party.
▪ Flaggers will direct traffic, giving preference to northbound traffic in the morning and southbound in the evening.
▪ For example, there have already been reports of hospitals giving preference to patients of fundholding general practitioners.
indicate
▪ In this way they may indicate a preference as to which particular difficulty will be addressed first.
▪ Does he withdraw his front foot, indicating his preference to give ground?
▪ Applicants must not attempt to indicate a preference for any particular institution.
▪ In the first round voters had to indicate their preference for an individual candidate and for a party list.
▪ Voters indicated a single preference and had to spell out the name of their chosen candidate, rather than mark a box.
▪ Both would thereby indicate a preference for the Conservative Party but their attitudes would not be the same.
▪ To some extent, this may indicate a lessening preference for the institutions of marriage.
reflect
▪ Their daily routines are starting to reflect their preferences and abilities and to include a level of personal responsibility.
▪ Decisions about the development of a local community should reflect local preferences and meet local needs.
▪ To a degree, cravings also reflect cultural preferences.
▪ In recent times the market reflected strong regional preferences.
▪ In practice, the choice was made on subjective grounds, reflecting the institutional preferences of military planners.
▪ That it is important to use local knowledge and reflect local preferences. 3.
show
▪ Peter Brabeck, Nestle chief executive, has shown a preference for pet food over people food.
▪ By and large, any given chemical shows a strong preference for one particular shape of crystal.
▪ It is blatant, undisguised opportunism by management, showing preference for what can be done, rather than what should be done.
▪ There was another way in which the Reading Teacher showed her preference.
▪ Subjects given simple pre-exposure to the target flavour showed no such preference.
▪ However, companies generally show a preference for equity finance if it is possible.
▪ Among the 3,813 papers showing a second preference for Craig, just which would be the 1,476 passed on to him?
▪ Similarly, infants as young as 6 weeks of age consistently show preferences for familiar as compared to unfamiliar faces.
state
▪ The voter is required to state his preferences, and to state them once for all, before any votes are counted.
▪ Moreover, in stating a preference, she chooses her career.
▪ For some ticket prices there will be a choice of two areas in the auditorium - please state your preference when booking.
▪ Now, Del, do you want to clear, wash, or nap? State your preference.
▪ The leader should always conduct the meeting impartially and avoid stating his preferences and objections.
▪ The boy had stated a preference, that was all.
▪ The remaining 275 hereditary peers state no preference, though they would mostly vote Tory if pushed.
▪ Thus there can be a world of difference between a preference that is stated and a preference that is effective.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be a matter of (personal) taste/choice/preference
▪ If you think torturing babies is good, that is a matter of taste.
▪ In the United States, food is a matter of taste, time and price.
▪ Quite what that means is a matter of taste, because a breed does not exist until it has been named.
▪ Switching to the Normal channel I would say that using the crunch option for rock solo work is a matter of taste.
▪ The amount of the increase or decrease is a matter of preference.
▪ The first is a matter of taste.
▪ The size of the pleat is a matter of choice.
▪ This is a matter of choice.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Adams expressed her preference for New York, despite the fact that she's lived in California for six years.
▪ Oil or vinegar may be added for a more bland or sharp sauce, according to your preference.
▪ There are definite regional preferences amongst our clients.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Because of its preference for lower temperatures, this is an ideal plant for the garden pool.
▪ Coupons generated electronically at the cash register are popular across the country, because they mirror consumer preferences.
▪ Most of us arrange our bedrooms based purely on personal preference.
▪ Our personal preference is to cook pork, particularly the loin cuts, so that it is slightly pink and remains moist.
▪ The context of these remarks was his preference for allowing arbitrators to make final decisions on questions of construction.
▪ This extremely flexible system allows the hotel to tailor service preferences for each guest.
▪ When he provided nests on two tiers, hens showed a strong preference for the lower level.
▪ When they're old enough for a preference, he's the preference.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Preference

Preference \Pref"er*ence\, n. [Cf. F. pr['e]f['e]rence.]

  1. The act of Preferring, or the state of being preferred; the setting of one thing before another; precedence; higher estimation; predilection; choice; also, the power or opportunity of choosing; as, to give him his preference.

    Leave the critics on either side to contend about the preference due to this or that sort of poetry.
    --Dryden.

    Knowledge of things alone gives a value to our reasonings, and preference of one man's knowledge over another's.
    --Locke.

  2. That which is preferred; the object of choice or superior favor; as, which is your preference?

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
preference

mid-15c., "advancement in position or status;" 1650s as "act of prefering," from Middle French preference (14c., Modern French préférence), from Medieval Latin preferentia, from past participle stem of Latin praeferrere (see prefer). Sense of "that which one prefers" is from 1852.

Wiktionary
preference

n. 1 The selection of one thing or person over others. 2 The option to so select, and the one selected. vb. (context US English) To give preferential treatment to; to give a preference to.

Related phrases:
WordNet
preference

  1. n. a strong liking; "my own preference is for good literature"; "the Irish have a penchant for blarney" [syn: penchant, predilection, taste]

  2. a predisposition in favor of something; "a predilection for expensive cars"; "his sexual preferences"; "showed a Marxist orientation" [syn: predilection, orientation]

  3. the right or chance to choose; "given my druthers, I'd eat cake" [syn: druthers]

  4. grant of favor or advantage to one over another (especially to a country or countries in matters of international trade, such as levying duties)

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Preference (disambiguation)

Preference is a term used in scientific literature.

Preference may also refer to:

  • Preference (economics), as the term is used in economics
  • Preferred stock, preference stock or preference shares, a form of corporate equity ownership
  • Préférence, a card game played in Austria, Hungary and the West Balkans
  • Preferans, the sophisticated Russian version of Préférence
  • Unfair preference, a legal term
  • Preferences mag, French gay periodical usually styled PREF mag
Preference (economics)

In economics and other social sciences, preference is the ordering of alternatives based on their relative utility, a process which results in an optimal " choice" (whether real or theoretical). The character of the individual preferences is determined purely by taste factors, independent of considerations of prices, income, or availability of goods.

With the help of the scientific method many practical decisions of life can be modelled, resulting in testable predictions about human behavior. Although economists are usually not interested in the underlying causes of the preferences in themselves, they are interested in the theory of choice because it serves as a background for empirical demand analysis.

Préférence

Préférence is an Eastern European 10-card plain-trick game with bidding, played by three players with a 32-card Piquet deck, and probably originating in early 19th century Austria also played by Russia highest echelon. A sophisticated variant known as Preferans is very popular in Russia, and other variants are played from Lithuania to Greece.

Préférence appears to be derived from Ombre and Boston, although as a three-player game with 10-card hands and a 2-card talon it also has superficial similarities with other Central European games such as Skat and Mariáš. The game is named after the ranking of preferred suits for bidding purposes, an innovative feature at the time of its introduction. Once a mode of play has been declared, any player may drop out and only the remaining players play, if both parties are still represented. This feature is reminiscent of gambling games such as Tippen or Loo.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "preference".

West Virginia statute whereby that State sought to require that a preference be accorded local consumers of gas produced within the State.

By preference, they seem to dwell about the sources of the Igatimi, an affluent of the Parana, and in the chain of mountains known either as San Jose or Mbaracayu.

If you are going to go aground, for preference always choose a sandy shoal.

To save them present pain at the risk of future anguish, to consult the feelings of her brother, in preference to his morality, would be forgetting every lesson of her life, which, from its earliest dawn, had imbibed a love of virtue, that made her consider whatever was offensive to it as equally disgusting and unhappy.

They spent months learning about each other, exploring and appreciating their different needs, preferences, and behaviour patterns.

His personal preferences went with Horry, but he could not hesitate in declaring for Mayham.

We have the mastership at this hour by dint of our gold and our hundred-ton guns, but they are telling our farmers to cast aside their corn, and to grow tobacco and fruit and anything else that can be thought of in preference.

In this form, as in the Acepan, the response was predominantly flight, the Ket species having matured into a sensible preference to avoid danger whenever possible.

Whatever friendship he might entertain for Berthollet, it was easy to perceive that he preferred Monge, and that he was led to that preference because Monge, endowed with an ardent imagination, without exactly possessing religious principles, had a kind of predisposition for religious ideas which harmonised with the notions of Bonaparte.

I for one am quite prepared to sacrifice popularist action in preference to do what is both right and necessary.

Give me one indifferent reason why I should remain here against my princessly preference.

I would say further that I am satisfied that you understand your business, and would advise anybody suffering from any chronic disease to avail themselves of your skill in preference to resorting to any other source known to me.

Preference resurged, the valued part of himself that anchored his love for Elaira.

The same sort of diversification according to habitat preferences seems to have been the fate of the horned dinosaurs, a group characterized by such features as huge heads and pointed rostral bones or beaks.

As the Signor addressed himself to Mademoiselle de Rubine, there was an air of respectful tenderness in his deportment which did not elude the observation of her aunt, who would probably have felt somewhat mortified at the preference thus evidently shewn to her dependant, had not the conversation of the Marchese been chiefly directed to herself.