verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
prefer/favour an approach
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I prefer a traditional approach.
sb’s preferred option formal (= the option someone likes best )
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The new scheme appears to be the airport management’s preferred option.
would like/love/prefer
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Yes, please, I’d love a coffee.
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My parents would like to meet you.
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Claudia would have liked to refuse wanted to refuse , but she didn’t dare.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
always
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Slowly, they found a way to talk of the things Josh had always preferred to discuss with his father.
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The oral route is always preferred .
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Although much improved in version 4, I've always preferred HyperDisk.
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But talented, independent thinkers always prefer to dress themselves.
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I've always preferred a Precision to a Jazz because of the way that a Precision plays.
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When hiring band members, Lawrence always preferred less talented musicians of good character over brilliant musicians of unstable character.
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I always prefer players with some colour and individuality in their sound, usually with some distortion.
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This was more or less true, for the simple reason that I have always preferred to be the one pursued.
instead
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He refuses to wear the ceremonial purple of a bishop, preferring instead simple monastic robes.
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Careful growers use none of these, preferring instead a grain diet with some chicken fat.
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They preferred instead to use the designation related to the setting - neighbour, for example.
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Playing singles, he never got far, preferring instead the strategic intricacies of doubles.
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He prefers instead to hold meetings with his colleagues and to talk things through until a solution emerges.
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But the sun seldom came sideways, preferring instead to strike straight down from above.
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Suppose that a firm decided never to pay dividends, preferring instead to reward shareholders entirely through capital gains.
much
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And I'd much prefer it if that didn't happen.
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He much preferred to limit the scope of his inquiry to the field of geometrics.
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The elongated seats were much preferred .
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Loi had announced that he much preferred sleeping on the raft even after he received his visa.
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He would have much preferred the hysterical crying, the accusations of lack of love for her to that.
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She would have much preferred to sit on the rock and drink in the scenery.
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They had very much preferred it when she had been obsessed with Abba.
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The artists get along well with their neighbors, who much prefer to have the sprawling place occupied, they said.
often
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Hence, dye-in-liquid experiments are often preferred .
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Although not completely pain free, they often prefer this management to any type of surgical procedure.
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Flight whirring; can rocket upwards with remarkable acceleration when startled, though often prefer to run.
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These students often prefer the company of younger children.
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Because of this, even those who could afford professional labour will often prefer to do it themselves.
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Accordingly, business owners often prefer to take out most corporate profits as salary.
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They often prefer to withhold sales rather than accept a lower price because of the consequences for other sales.
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Couples that do decide to have a child often prefer boys.
still
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Governments caring sufficiently about redistribution might still prefer inefficient allocations with greater vertical equity.
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He still preferred the pen to any other instrument.
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By and large, people still prefer not to acknowledge these issues for which there is no comfortable rule.
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And while men still prefer Dole to Clinton, that margin is not large enough to overcome the contrary female vote.
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Many peasants, particularly the less well off, still preferred the priest as a source of education.
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I still prefer my original state of having been deceived.
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Now, he said, most acquisitive companies would still prefer to do friendly transactions.
■ NOUN
others
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Some artists prefer the springy sensitivity of an open canvas whilst others prefer the hardness or smoothness of a board.
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If some families favor expressing anger through icy silence, others prefer a more fiery style, whether through word or deed.
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Some people like this, others prefer a more formal approach.
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This rejection fear compounds the anxiety that others are preferred and also maybe preferable-the root of sibling rivalry.
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Many drinkers enjoy the freshness and vitality of a young Chardonnay Champagne, while others prefer some maturity.
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Instead, they mark citations as they are proofreading their text. Others prefer to mark citations as they type.
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Some people are very independent; others prefer to do more together.
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Some wore them full-length; others preferred to roll them in half before knotting them.
people
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By and large, people still prefer not to acknowledge these issues for which there is no comfortable rule.
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Some people prefer tours, while others like to gallery hop unescorted and at their own pace.
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Indeed, many people prefer to remove their shoes when being hypnotized, as they find this more comfortable.
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Sometimes people prefer to use an Internet nickname or handle, which can be anything you like.
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Some people prefer different line lengths.
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The way people prefer to learn varies.
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Many people seem to prefer that kind of anonymous system.
reason
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I see little reason to prefer strains of lettuce, for instance, that are inherently poisonous to pests.
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For all these reasons , engineers prefer to design a reasonably stiff building.
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Repetition of words can create the same sort of chain as pronouns, and there are sometimes good reasons for preferring it.
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Both men had reason to prefer the gloom, for one was a traitor and the other a spy.
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So both have a reason of justice for preferring some other solution to the checkerboard one.
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The reason I prefer the Methodist faith is because it has the simplest form.
■ VERB
seem
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Superficially it may seem reasonable to prefer a firmly-held end to a faint altruistic stirring which is easily dismissed.
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Henry himself seemed to prefer IsabelIa, especially as she seemed willing to agree not to marry without his consent.
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His secondary theme is Athens, which on the whole he seems to prefer .
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Hannah had seemed to prefer firm holding to light touches.
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He seemed to prefer to go travelling with his fellow students.
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After all, Symington, like them, is a man who seems to prefer politicking about business to just doing business.
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Fabien also, of course, but it was always me that she seemed to prefer - or so I liked to think.
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He seemed to prefer it that way.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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"Which restaurant shall we go to?'' "I really don't mind. Whichever one you prefer .''
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Brad Pitt? Oh no, I much prefer Russell Crowe!
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Dave wants to go to New York again, but I'd prefer somewhere more exotic.
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French people usually prefer to buy goods that are made in France.
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I'm beginning to like Japanese food. I certainly prefer rice to potatoes.
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Mark likes lying on the beach, but I prefer visiting museums.
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Most of my friends take the bus to school, but I prefer to walk.
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She doesn't like romantic fiction -- she much prefers detective stories.
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She seems to prefer watching soap operas to talking to me.
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Which bread do you prefer , brown or white?
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Which color do you prefer - blue or red?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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A dedicated bread eater will usually prefer a dense, sour, small, moist, round pumpernickel to a light rye.
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Cops and gangsters alike prefer to see pachinko remain uneasily in limbo.
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Gina could crawl in beside them or sleep on the sofa downstairs if she preferred.
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He would prefer to help boost poor working families' incomes through tax breaks.
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If invested instead in bonds or preferred stock, that same dollar would be worth less than $ 1, 000.
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She preferred the sizzling animosity between them to this ... this awkwardness.
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When I wrote to congratulate him on the latter, he telephoned, which he apparently preferred to writing.
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You can ask to speak to a lesbian if you prefer .