adv
Meaning 1
In preference; by choice; in a preferable manner.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
preferably
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ˈpɹɛf.ɹəˌbli/
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/pɹəˈfɜː.ɹəˌbli/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: P R EH1 F ER0 AH0 B L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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CMU ARPABET 2: P R EH1 F R AH0 B L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adverb
Meaning 2
more readily or willingly
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- clean it well, preferably with warm water
- I'd rather be in Philadelphia
- I'd sooner die than give up
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: sooner, rather
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Etymology tree English preferable Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Middle English -ly English -ly English preferably From preferable + -ly.
Across languages
Translations
27 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: за предпочитане (za predpočitane) — in preference
- Catalan: preferiblement — in preference
- Dutch: bij voorkeur — in preference
- Esperanto: prefere — in preference
- Finnish: mieluiten — in preference
- French: de préférence — in preference
- French: préférablement — in preference
- Georgian: უპირატესად (uṗiraṭesad) — in preference
- Georgian: უმჯობესად (umǯobesad) — in preference
- Georgian: უკეთ (uḳet) — in preference
- German: vorzugsweise — in preference
- Greek: κατά προτίμηση (katá protímisi) — in preference
- Italian: preferibilmente — in preference
- Latin: potior — in preference
- Norwegian Bokmål: fortrinnsvis — in preference
- Norwegian Nynorsk: fortrinnsvis — in preference
- Polish: najchętniej — in preference
- Portuguese: preferencialmente — in preference
- Portuguese: de preferência — in preference
- Romanian: (în mod) preferabil — in preference
- Romanian: (în manieră) preferabilă — in preference
- Russian: лучше (lučše) — in preference
- Russian: желательно (želatelʹno) — in preference
- Russian: предпочтительно (predpočtitelʹno) — in preference
- Spanish: preferiblemente — in preference
- Swedish: helst — in preference
- Turkish: tercihen — in preference
Real reading context