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Glite Dictionary
to stay in favor

to stay in favor

4.7
To continue being liked or supported by a person in power
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : mantenerse en favor
  • He always tries to stay in favor with his boss by volunteering for extra work.

Examples

  • Some officials changed their opinions to stay in favor with the new administration.

  • How can we stay in favor with our clients?

  • She remained neutral in order to stay in favor with both sides of the argument.

  • We must stay in favor with the committee.

  • He always tries to stay in favor with his boss by volunteering for extra work.

  • Some officials changed their opinions to stay in favor with the new administration.

  • We must stay in favor with the committee to ensure project approval.

Antonyms

to fall out
15 3.6

To stop being friendly with someone after an argument

How Favored

to stay in favor
4.7
in good odor
  • Archaic
9.7
disfavor
4 6.2
disgraced
6 4.6

Surface Forms

stay in favor infinitive
stayed in favor past
stayed in favor past participle
staying in favor present participle
stays in favor third person singular

Morphology

stay + in + favor

The meaning is directly derivable from the parts: 'stay' = remain, 'in' = within, and 'favor' = approval, so a learner can infer 'remain within approval' or 'continue to be liked/supported.' This follows a regular 'stay + in + noun' compositional pattern (and parallels similar constructions in other languages), making it readily comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Stay in favor comes from the idea of trying to stay inside someone's favor, that is, their good opinion or help. So, to stay in favor means to keep being 'liked' or 'supported' by someone, often a person in power.