Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🙏 An act of kindness 👍 Support or approval 🤝 To show support 🏆 To consider likely 🎁 A small gift
to favor

to favor

64 3.5
To consider someone most likely to win
  • verb
  • /ˈfeɪvər/
  • US
translation icon : favorecer
  • Many Americans argue that the current mood favors a withdrawal from a leading role in international affairs.
  • tend to favor
  • seem to favor
  • appear to favor

And so when I started to see like, oh, OK, fortune favors the bold.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • A considerable portion of the social science literature favors the null hypothesis of no differences between male and female leaders.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Mind telling who you favor in this election?

    Mank (2020)

  • Does he actually favor the academic in this?

  • I favor the Rams myself.

    Hickey & Boggs (1972)

  • In its early years, the executive branch tended to favor limiting military spending.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Now, opinion around town seems to favor the pollution theory, and I must say that I'm inclined to agree with that.

    The Last Wave (1977)

  • Evolution favors those creatures best adapted to their environment.

  • Our job is to help and demand the studios and producers and networks and streamers make decisions that favor gender equality.

    This Changes Everything (2019)

  • They support corporate-backed global trade agreements, they support maintaining a Cold War defense budget, and they generally favor the interests of big business.

    Ethos (2011)

  • In the upcoming election, many people seem to favor the candidate with the best policies.

Idioms

to curry favor
  • US
10 7.4

To try to get someone to like you by praising them or being too helpful

may the odds be ever in your favor
  • Informal
9.4

To wish someone good luck when the result depends on chance

to turn the scale in one's favor
7.9

Make a situation end the way you want

Phrasal Verbs

to return the favor
  • Informal
57 2.9

Do something helpful for someone who helped you

to owe someone a favor
32 3.3

To have to help someone because they helped you before

to rule in favor of
  • Formal
12 5.3

Decide that one person or group should win a legal case

to court favor
1 6.8

To try to get someone's approval by praising them a lot

to stay in favor
4.7

To continue being liked or supported by a person in power

Compounds

party favor
  • US
14 2.6

A small gift that people give to guests at a party to thank them

personalized party favor
  • US
3.5

A small gift given to party guests with their name on it

How Likely

to count on
700 1.8
to favor
  • US
64 3.5
to expect
∞ 1.0
to believe
∞ 1.0
to suspect
925 3.6

Surface Forms

favor infinitive
favour infinitive
favored past
favoured past
favored past participle
favoured past participle
favoring present participle
favouring present participle
favors third person singular
favours third person singular

Etymology

Favor meaning to think someone is most likely to win comes from favere, 'to support', and is the same idea behind the word favorite. To favor a team or person is to support them as the one you expect will succeed.