prefer

• præfer (archaic)
• præferre (obsolete)
• preferre (obsolete)

From Middle English preferren, from Anglo-Norman preferer, from Latin praeferō. Displaced native Old English foresettan and foreberan. Doublet of prelate. See also infer, relate and refer, delate and defer, as well as collate and confer among others.

• (General American) IPA^(key):

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• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key):
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  • (dialectal) IPA^(key): ,
• (Scotland) IPA^(key):
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• (Liverpool, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key):
• (Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key):
• (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key):
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: pre‧fer

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.

   I prefer tea to coffee.

   I'd prefer it if you didn't do it.

   I'd prefer to stay home rather than drive/driving in the blizzard.

   • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , 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 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).
   • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , 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 , 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, 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").
   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 118, column 2:

      , let him go,
     And preſently preferre his ſuite to Cæſar.

   • 1803, Dallas, Robert Charles (author), The History of the Maroons‎, volume 1, London: Longman and Rees, published 1803, →OCLC, Letter 5, page 137:

     At length the Maroons, who were delighted to have him with them, became diſ­con­tent­ed with his abſence, and for ſeveral years, during the ſeſſions of the Houſe of Aſſembly, preferred repeated complaints againſt him.

4. (obsolete, transitive) To put forward for acceptance; to introduce, recommend (to).
   • 1630, John Smith, chapter 1, in The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captaine Iohn Smith‎, London: Thomas Slater, page 2:

     one Master David Hume, who making some use of his purse, gave him Letters to his friends in Scotland to preferre him to King Iames.

   • 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), , chapter IV, in Rob Roy.  In Three Volumes.">…], volume II, Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. ; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 68:

     Such were the arguments which my will boldly preferred to my conscience, as coin which ought to be current; and which conscience, like a grumbling shopkeeper, was contented to accept, .

• 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.

• forechoose

• disprefer

From English prefer.

prefer

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

   • 剛才就Mr Pennicott就同我提出咗一啲佢當事人嘅意見，我諗佢就prefer我開聲講，佢就要求就兩樣嘢嘅⋯⋯
     刚才就Mr Pennicott就同我提出咗一啲佢当事人嘅意见，我谂佢就prefer我开声讲，佢就要求就两样嘢嘅⋯⋯

     From: 2016, 石永泰 , 食水含鉛超標調查委員會 , P.139 of transcript

     gong¹ coi⁴ zau⁶ Mr Pennicott zau⁶ tung⁴ ngo⁵ tai⁴ ceot¹ zo² jat¹ di¹ keoi⁵ dong¹ si⁶ jan⁴ ge³ ji³ gin³, ngo⁵ nam² keoi⁵ zau⁶ pi⁶ foe¹ ngo⁵ hoi¹ seng¹ gong², keoi⁵ zau⁶ jiu¹ kau⁴ zau⁶ loeng⁵ joeng⁶ je⁵ ge³...

     Just now, Mr Pennicott has submitted his client's views and I believe he would prefer I start first. He had asked two things…

• IPA^(key): /preˈfer/

prefer

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