Prefer
[pɹɪˈfɝ]Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo be in the habit of choosing something rather than something else; to favor; to like better.
verbTo advance, promote (someone or something).
Sentence Examples
I prefer to look for a solution to problems, not only to report them.
Fifty-two per cent of British women prefer chocolate to sex.
I would prefer to stay at home tonight.
CEFR Practice Quiz
I strongly ____ drinking tea over coffee because it is less bitter.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Most students ____ interactive lessons over long lectures because they find them more engaging.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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,[…]"
— 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:
""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 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
"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, […]"
— 1907, The Quarterly Review, volume 207, page 119:
"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."
— 2017, Robert Sapolsky, Behave, Penguin, →ISBN:
"You don’t attack politicians because you prefer them; you attack them because you’re scared of them."
— 2019 February 26, James Graham, Adam Johnson, “The Return of the Inexplicable Republican Best Friend”, in FAIR.org:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
I strongly ____ drinking tea over coffee because it is less bitter.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Most students ____ interactive lessons over long lectures because they find them more engaging.