Prefer
verb
To like one thing or person better than another.
I prefer coffee to tea.
Often appears as...
- prefer something to something
- prefer doing something
verb
To choose or want something rather than something else because you like it better.
He prefers going to the cinema to watching television.
Often appears as...
- prefer one thing over/to another
- prefer to do something
verb
To suggest or state that one thing should be chosen or that you approve of it more than another.
The judge preferred the evidence of the first witness.
Often appears as...
- prefer charges
- prefer a claim
Usage tips
Formal, Approving
verb
To like one thing or person better than another.
I prefer coffee to tea.
Often appears as...
- prefer something to something
- prefer doing something
verb
To choose or want something rather than something else because you like it better.
He prefers going to the cinema to watching television.
Often appears as...
- prefer one thing over/to another
- prefer to do something
verb
To suggest or state that one thing should be chosen or that you approve of it more than another.
The judge preferred the evidence of the first witness.
Often appears as...
- prefer charges
- prefer a claim
Usage tips
Formal, Approving
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Expressing Preferences
Use 'prefer' to express likes in a polite and indirect way, showing you have a choice.
I prefer classical music when I work.
Pro Tip 2/3Comparative Preference
'Prefer' often involves a comparison between two things, indicating a favorite.
I prefer biking to driving.
Pro Tip 3/3Gentle Suggestions
'Prefer' can suggest choices in a gentle way, without demanding.
Would you prefer tea or coffee?
Pro Tip 1/3Expressing Preferences
Use 'prefer' to express likes in a polite and indirect way, showing you have a choice.
I prefer classical music when I work.
Pro Tip 2/3Comparative Preference
'Prefer' often involves a comparison between two things, indicating a favorite.
I prefer biking to driving.
Pro Tip 3/3Gentle Suggestions
'Prefer' can suggest choices in a gentle way, without demanding.
Would you prefer tea or coffee?
Pro Tip 1/3Expressing Preferences
Use 'prefer' to express likes in a polite and indirect way, showing you have a choice.
I prefer classical music when I work.
Pro Tip 2/3Comparative Preference
'Prefer' often involves a comparison between two things, indicating a favorite.
I prefer biking to driving.
Pro Tip 3/3Gentle Suggestions
'Prefer' can suggest choices in a gentle way, without demanding.
Would you prefer tea or coffee?
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Video examples
Would you opt for a life...
Imagine if you were Betsy. Would you prefer to know the truth? If the answer is yes, you'd be choosing an option that sharply decreases your net pleasure. Perhaps, then, you believe that there are things in life with greater intrinsic value than pleasure. Truth, knowledge, authentic connection with other human beings.
Video examples
Why is Vermeer's "Girl...
Wishing to be represented in the paintings they financed, these merchants preferred middle class subjects depicted in spaces that looked like their own homes surrounded by familiar objects. The maps that appear in Vermeer's paintings, for example, were considered fashionable and worldly
Video examples
Why we love repetition...
Repetition is a feature that music from cultures around the world tends to share. So, why does music rely so heavily on repetition? One part of the answer come from what psychologists call the mere-exposure effect. In short, people tend to prefer things they've been exposed to before.
Video examples
The truth about bats -...
Out of these three, only one prefers the blood of mammals, and even these bats mostly feed on cattle. Maybe that still doesn't seem so great, but vampire bats can be a great help to humans. A chemical known as desmoteplase found in vampire bat saliva helps break down blood clots,
Video examples
How One Community Saved...
It is a way of preserving the reef and dedicating ourselves to something else, They began to prefer transporting tourists because they knew they got paid well and they consumed less fuel. Besides, they were home early and that's what encouraged them to give up the fishing.
Video examples
How quantum mechanics...
Earth's infrared radiation would escape to space if there weren't greenhouse gas molecules in our atmophere. Just as oxygen gas prefers the dark red photons, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases match with infrared photons. They provide the right amount of energy
Video examples
Ami Klin: A new way to...
Without the caregiver, they wouldn't survive, so it stands to reason that nature would endow them with these mechanisms of survival. They orient to the caregiver. From the first days and weeks of life, babies prefer to hear human sounds,
Video examples
How to understand power...
Law number power is like water. It flows like a current through everyday life. Politics is the work of harnessing that flow in a direction you prefer. Policymaking is an effort to freeze and perpetuate a particular flow of power.
Video examples
BBC Earth 50 Top Natural...
Piggy's learned how to say milk so she doesn't prefer milk meow meow yeah what is it nice and when are cats meow there's one thing that almost every owner in the study said they did did you go hunting today talk back good to go
Video examples
Violence is a failure of...
violence causes trauma all over the world and I'd like to talk to you about how people telling their own stories can stop violence in their lives and in the lives of others most of us would prefer
Video examples
Would you opt for a life...
Imagine if you were Betsy. Would you prefer to know the truth? If the answer is yes, you'd be choosing an option that sharply decreases your net pleasure. Perhaps, then, you believe that there are things in life with greater intrinsic value than pleasure. Truth, knowledge, authentic connection with other human beings.
Video examples
Why is Vermeer's "Girl...
Wishing to be represented in the paintings they financed, these merchants preferred middle class subjects depicted in spaces that looked like their own homes surrounded by familiar objects. The maps that appear in Vermeer's paintings, for example, were considered fashionable and worldly
Video examples
Why we love repetition...
Repetition is a feature that music from cultures around the world tends to share. So, why does music rely so heavily on repetition? One part of the answer come from what psychologists call the mere-exposure effect. In short, people tend to prefer things they've been exposed to before.
Video examples
The truth about bats -...
Out of these three, only one prefers the blood of mammals, and even these bats mostly feed on cattle. Maybe that still doesn't seem so great, but vampire bats can be a great help to humans. A chemical known as desmoteplase found in vampire bat saliva helps break down blood clots,
Video examples
How One Community Saved...
It is a way of preserving the reef and dedicating ourselves to something else, They began to prefer transporting tourists because they knew they got paid well and they consumed less fuel. Besides, they were home early and that's what encouraged them to give up the fishing.
Video examples
How quantum mechanics...
Earth's infrared radiation would escape to space if there weren't greenhouse gas molecules in our atmophere. Just as oxygen gas prefers the dark red photons, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases match with infrared photons. They provide the right amount of energy
Video examples
Ami Klin: A new way to...
Without the caregiver, they wouldn't survive, so it stands to reason that nature would endow them with these mechanisms of survival. They orient to the caregiver. From the first days and weeks of life, babies prefer to hear human sounds,
Video examples
How to understand power...
Law number power is like water. It flows like a current through everyday life. Politics is the work of harnessing that flow in a direction you prefer. Policymaking is an effort to freeze and perpetuate a particular flow of power.
Video examples
BBC Earth 50 Top Natural...
Piggy's learned how to say milk so she doesn't prefer milk meow meow yeah what is it nice and when are cats meow there's one thing that almost every owner in the study said they did did you go hunting today talk back good to go
Video examples
Violence is a failure of...
violence causes trauma all over the world and I'd like to talk to you about how people telling their own stories can stop violence in their lives and in the lives of others most of us would prefer
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Lionel Messi
Argentinian Footballer
I prefer to win titles with the team ahead of individual awards or scoring more goals than anyone else. I'm more worried about being a good person than being the best football player in the world. When all this is over, what are you left with? When I retire, I hope I am remembered for being a decent guy.
Quote examples
Joyce Meyer
American Author
Some people have a difficult time facing truth and reality. They prefer to live in a make-believe world, pretending that certain things aren't happening.
Quote examples
Robert Louis Stevenson
Scottish Writer
To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.
Quote examples
Khalil Gibran
Lebanese Poet
I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires.
Quote examples
Thomas Paine
English Activist
I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.
Quote examples
Ben Carson
American Scientist
I would prefer to just continue to speak about truth and to speak about what makes sense.
Quote examples
Katya Zamolodchikova
American Entertainer
It's a social life, or time to read the comment section: I prefer social life.
Quote examples
Francois Truffaut
French Director
I have always preferred the reflection of the life to life itself.
Quote examples
Johann G. Seume
German Theologian
People should always have something which they prefer to life.
Quote examples
Kamala Harris
American Vice President
I support Medicare for all. It is my preferred policy.
Quote examples
Lionel Messi
Argentinian Footballer
I prefer to win titles with the team ahead of individual awards or scoring more goals than anyone else. I'm more worried about being a good person than being the best football player in the world. When all this is over, what are you left with? When I retire, I hope I am remembered for being a decent guy.
Quote examples
Joyce Meyer
American Author
Some people have a difficult time facing truth and reality. They prefer to live in a make-believe world, pretending that certain things aren't happening.
Quote examples
Robert Louis Stevenson
Scottish Writer
To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.
Quote examples
Khalil Gibran
Lebanese Poet
I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires.
Quote examples
Thomas Paine
English Activist
I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.
Quote examples
Ben Carson
American Scientist
I would prefer to just continue to speak about truth and to speak about what makes sense.
Quote examples
Katya Zamolodchikova
American Entertainer
It's a social life, or time to read the comment section: I prefer social life.
Quote examples
Francois Truffaut
French Director
I have always preferred the reflection of the life to life itself.
Quote examples
Johann G. Seume
German Theologian
People should always have something which they prefer to life.
Quote examples
Kamala Harris
American Vice President
I support Medicare for all. It is my preferred policy.
Example 1 of 10
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