prefer
like better; value more highly
How often you will meet it
Rank 2,652 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 6,290 times across 155,139 chapters — 0.003% of every word in the library.
What it means
verb
- like better; value more highly Some people prefer camping to staying in hotelsWe prefer sleeping outside
- select as an alternative over another also: choose, opt I always choose the fish over the meat courses in this restaurantShe opted for the job on the East coast
- promote over another also: favor, favour he favors his second daughter
- give preference to one creditor over another
prefer in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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But I prefer to raise my objections at once.
Punch — Volume 101, November 7, 1891 · Various · Chapter 1
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I would prefer the company of my mother-in-law or Amelia to being more alone with Augustus.
The Reflections of Ambrosine: A Novel · Elinor Glyn · Chapter 1
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You are lewd because that page has a lance which I prefer to think is not a lance.
Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice · James Branch Cabell · Chapter 1
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I prefer the rifle: it makes a clean job of death, and does not prematurely stuff the bird with globules of lead.
In the Wilderness · Charles Dudley Warner · Chapter 1
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So they once told me, but I courtesied, and replied that I should prefer a live rebel to even two dead loyalists.
Representative Plays by American Dramatists — Love in '76 · Oliver Bell Bunce · Chapter 1