different between prefer vs occupy
prefer
English
Alternative forms
- præfer [16th-17th c.]
- preferre [14th-17th c.]
Etymology
From Middle English preferren, from Anglo-Norman preferer and Old French preferer, from Latin praefer?, praeferre. Displaced native Middle English foresettan and foreberan.
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /p???f?/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /p???f??/
- Rhymes: -??(?)
Verb
prefer (third-person singular simple present prefers, present participle preferring, simple past and past participle preferred)
- (transitive) To be in the habit of choosing something rather than something else; to favor; to like better. [from 14thc.]
- I'd prefer it if you didn't do it.
- "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects; […]."
- (transitive, now dated) To advance, promote (someone or something). [from 14thc.]
- 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, p. 67,[1]
- […] she was one of my Master’s Captives. For this Reason, I presume, it was, that she took so much Compassion upon me; considering herself a Slave in a strange Country, and only preferr’d to my Master’s Bed by Courtesy.
- 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, p. 67,[1]
- (transitive) To present or submit (something) to an authority (now usually in "to prefer charges"). [from 16thc.]
- 1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 5, p. 137,[2]
- At length the Maroons, who were delighted to have him with them, became discontented with his absence, and for several years, during the sessions of the House of Assembly, preferred repeated complaints against him.
- 1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 5, p. 137,[2]
- (obsolete, transitive) To put forward for acceptance; to introduce, recommend (to). [16th-19thc.]
- 1630, John Smith, The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captaine Iohn Smith, London: Thomas Slater, Chapter 1, p. 2,[3]
- one Master David Hume, who making some use of his purse, gave him Letters to his friends in Scotland to preferre him to King Iames.
- 1817, Walter Scott, Rob Roy, Volume One, Chapter 17,[4]
- Such were the arguments which my will boldly preferred to my conscience, as coin which ought to be current, and which conscience, like a grumbling shopkeeper, was contented to accept […].
- 1630, John Smith, The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captaine Iohn Smith, London: Thomas Slater, Chapter 1, p. 2,[3]
Usage notes
- The verb can be used in three different forms:
- prefer + noun + to (or over) + noun. Example: I prefer coffee to tea.
- prefer + gerund + to (or over) + gerund. Example: I prefer skiing to swimming.
- prefer + full infinitive + rather than + bare infinitive. Example: I prefer to die honorably rather than live in shame. If the second verb is the same as the first, it can be elided: I prefer to eat fish rather than meat.
Inflection
Synonyms
- forechoose
Antonyms
- disprefer
Related terms
- nonpreferred
- preferable / preferrable
- preference
- preferendum
- preferential
- preferer / preferrer
- preferment
- preferred creditor, preferred provider, preferred stock, preferred stockholder
- unpreferred
- prelate
Translations
Romanian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [pre?fer]
Verb
prefer
- first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of prefera
prefer From the web:
- what preference mean
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- what preferences were given to the sinhalese
occupy
English
Etymology
From Middle English occupien, occupyen, borrowed from Old French occuper, from Latin occup?re (“to take possession of, seize, occupy, take up, employ”), from ob (“to, on”) + capi? (“to take”). Doublet of occupate, now obsolete.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /??kj?pa?/
- (General American) IPA(key): /??kj?pa?/
- Hyphenation: oc?cu?py
Verb
occupy (third-person singular simple present occupies, present participle occupying, simple past and past participle occupied)
- (transitive, of time) To take or use.
- To fill.
- To possess or use the time or capacity of; to engage the service of.
- To fill or hold (an official position or role).
- To hold the attention of.
- To fill.
- (transitive) To take or use space.
- To fill space.
- To live or reside in.
- The better apartments were already occupied.
- (military) To have, or to have taken, possession or control of (a territory).
- 1940, in The China monthly review, volumes 94-95, page 370 [1]:
- The Japanese can occupy but cannot hold, and what they can hold they cannot hold long, was the opinion of General Pai Chung-hsi, Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese Army, […]
- 1975, Esmé Cecil Wingfield-Stratford, King Charles and King Pym, 1637-1643, page 330 [2]:
- Rupert, with his usual untamable energy, was scouring the country — but at first in the wrong direction, that of Aylesbury, another keypoint in the outer ring of Oxford defences, which he occupied but could not hold.
- 1983, Arthur Keppel-Jones, Rhodes and Rhodesia: The White Conquest of Zimbabwe, 1884-1902, page 462:
- One of the rebel marksmen, who had taken up position on a boulder, was knocked off it by the recoil of his weapon every time he fired. Again the attack achieved nothing. Positions were occupied, but could not be held.
- 1991, Werner Spies, John William Gabriel, Max Ernst collages: the invention of the surrealist universe, page 333:
- Germany occupied France for three years while France struggled to make payments that were a condition of surrender.
- 2006, John Michael Francis, Iberia and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History, page 496:
- Spain occupied, but could not populate, and its failure to expand Florida led Britain to consider the peninsula a logical extension of its colonial holdings.
- 1940, in The China monthly review, volumes 94-95, page 370 [1]:
- (surveying) To place the theodolite or total station at (a point).
- To fill space.
- (transitive, obsolete) To have sexual intercourse with.
- 1590s, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, II.iv
- God's light, these villains will make the word as odious as the word 'occupy;' which was an excellent good word before it was ill sorted
- 1867, Robert Nares A Glossary
- OCCUPY, [sensu obsc.] To possess, or enjoy.
- These villains will make the word captain, as odious as the word occupy. 2 Hen. IV, ii, 4.
- Groyne, come of age, his state sold out of hand
- For 's whore; Groyne still doth occupy his land. B. Jons. Epigr., 117.
- Many, out of their own obscene apprehensions, refuse proper and fit words, as occupy, nature, and the like. Ibid., Discoveries, vol. vii, p. 119.
- It is so used also in Rowley's New Wonder, Anc. Dr., v, 278.
- OCCUPY, [sensu obsc.] To possess, or enjoy.
- 1590s, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, II.iv
- (obsolete) To do business in; to busy oneself with.
- All the ships of the sea, with their mariners, were in thee to occupy the merchandise.
- 1551, Ralph Robinson (tr.), Sir Thomas More's Utopia (in Latin), 1516
- not able to occupy their old crafts
- (obsolete) To use; to expend; to make use of.
- all the gold that was occupied for the work
- 1551, Ralph Robinson (tr.), Sir Thomas More's Utopia (in Latin), 1516
- They occupy not money themselves.
Conjugation
Synonyms
- (to possess or use the time or capacity of): employ, busy
- (to have sexual intercourse with): coitize, go to bed with, sleep with; see also Thesaurus:copulate with
Derived terms
- occupier
Related terms
- occupant
- occupation
Translations
See also
- Appendix:American Dialect Society words of the year
References
- occupy at OneLook Dictionary Search
- occupy in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
- Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
- occupy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- occupy in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
occupy From the web:
- what occupy means
- what occupies most of gregor's time
- what occupies most of the volume of an atom
- what occupies space and has mass
- what occupies most of the space in an atom
- what occupies space
- what occupies 12 of costa rica
- what occupies the empire state building
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