preference for
- noun
- His preference for spicy food often leads him to choose Thai restaurants over Italian ones.
- expressed preference for
- strong preference for
- clear preference for
So they had a a high preference for higher end American tech.
- So they had a a high preference for higher end American tech.
- But we, for example, men have evolved a preference for visual stimuli.
- In fact, he stated a preference for little boys five years and younger.
- And then Bill Clinton's, you know, preference for young women, but adult women.
- Why is there such variability in how people have a preference for when they sleep?
- Introverted people have a preference for solitude or small and familiar social groups.
- If you go to Moe's instead of Joe's, then you're expressing an ordinal preference for Joe's over Moe's.
- But in a way, when, when we do this sort of stuff, we're saying your preference for quantity is bad.
- So there is a relationship between, uh, male preference for female body size and resource scarcity.
- It is being driven by a preference for the survival and thriving of the Democratic Party.
- But a woman who has a preference for socioeconomic success, that shouldn't be their preference.
- And I do wonder how much of my introversion is really me, and how much of it is the safety of my preference for not being seen.
Examples
-
Introverted people have a preference for solitude or small and familiar social groups.
-
So yes, there were preferences for who should be in certain positions.
-
Were the stated or revealed preferences for short term or long term relationships, or both.
-
Being content to smile from time to time, I show no preference for one over another.
Fiction book (1991) -
So they had a a high preference for higher end American tech.
-
Most Industrial Organization scholars also share a preference for market solutions over government solutions.
Academic text (1999) -
If so, what psychological factors influence the preference for one over the other?
Academic text (1999) -
I am determining if you have a preference for pie or cake.
-
The reasons for this are not clear, but interviews with her make the preference for men apparent.
Fiction book (2001) -
Like the others, Davide expressed a preference for the hunting and trapping life.
Synonyms
A stronger liking for one thing than for others
A strong liking for something, like a type of food or music
Antonyms
How Strong
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'preference' already encodes a stronger liking or choice, and the preposition 'for' simply marks the target of that liking. This compositional pattern (preference + for + target) is directly derivable from the constituents and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand the meaning.
Etymology
Preference for makes a simple picture: imagine someone at a fruit stand leaning toward one apple instead of another. Here preference is the liking and for shows which thing is chosen, so preference for means 'a liking for' or 'choosing' one thing above others.