Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - prefer

(prefers, preferring, preferred) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. If you prefer someone or something, you like that person or thing better than another, and so you are more likely to choose them if there is a choice. Does he prefer a particular sort of music?... I became a teacher because I preferred books and people to politics... I prefer to go on self-catering holidays... I would prefer him to be with us next season... Bob prefers making original pieces rather than reproductions... The woodwork’s green now. I preferred it blue... Her own preferred methods of exercise are hiking and long cycle rides. VERB: no cont, V n, V n to n, V to-inf, V n to-inf, V -ing, V n adj, V-ed, also V that