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preference

[pref-er-uh

ns, pref-ruh

ns]

Example Sentences Origin

noun

the act of preferring.

the state of being preferred.

that which is preferred; choice: His preference is vanilla, not chocolate.

a practical advantage given to one over others.

a prior right or claim, as to payment of dividends or to assets upon dissolution.

EXPAND

the favoring of one country or group of countries by granting special advantages over others in international trade.

COLLAPSE

Origin:
1595–1605; < Medieval Latin praeferentia. See prefer, -ence

Related forms

non·pref·er·ence, noun

self-pref·er·ence, noun

Synonyms
3. selection, pick. See choice.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To preference

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Preference is always a great word to know.

So is quincunx. Does it mean:

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

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Example Sentences

College teaching experience required, and preference will be given to candidates who also have high school teaching experience.

It allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference.

Scientists had long thought that the lesser short-tailed bat evolved its walking preference independently.

EXPAND

College teaching experience required, and preference will be given to candidates who also have high school teaching experience.

It allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference.

Scientists had long thought that the lesser short-tailed bat evolved its walking preference independently.

They generally display a pronounced preference as to genre as well.

Wish you could vote for all photo's in order of preference.

It's now possible to observe this preference at work in the brain.

Preference will be given to candidates with experience and interests in honey bee extension and/or research.

There is now a thin buffer of core equity between the taxpayer's preference shares and any further losses.

Yet a minority of males still showed an innate preference for male mates.

Preference goes to those with deeper gene pools, which are deemed better able to withstand environmental change.

One of my preference for photography is to take pictures of walkways that are vacate of people.

Consumers have shown a clear preference for streaming services, so it's a natural expectation on game consoles.

Preference will be given to candidates that can also teach genetics, cell biology and/or microbiology.

They are getting richer by preference of the goverment.

The researchers switched a female worm's odor preference to that of a male.

All other tool-using primates show no distinct hand preference when it comes to holding the stick or stone.

But the drunk students lost both their preference for symmetry and their ability to detect it.

That's why geographic reach comes down to personal preference.

Preference will be given to applicants engaged in teaching and research in bio-mathematics.

Now he is looking at the evolutionary roots of political preference.

Lieberman agrees, adding that consumer preference for wild tiger materials would help keep the black market in operation.

To test for this preference for information, which is a cognitive reward, a new paradigm needed to be put in place.

Preference will be given to applicants whose teaching and research interests are focused on race/ethnic relations.

There are many different mbira tunings, chosen according to personal preference.

Even rats with low preference for booze drank significantly less after treatment.

Preference will be given to candidates with expertise in behavioral neuroscience.

Tracey has been using satellite telemetry, remote sensing, and acoustic surveys to identify their spatial preference.

Paolo was notified immediately in a private call, following the preference he expressed before the mission for such an event.

Preference will be given to those with post-doctoral experience.

It was me who said feeding time is a personal preference.

Study subjects who expressed a preference for sweet over savory tastes also tended to be more agreeable.

Preference will be given to a candidate who has expertise in the area of instructional technology.

Preference of the women probably had little to do with it.

Preference given to candidates who are internationally recognized scholars and preeminent experts in global management.

The wasps also demonstrated a preference for the same species of plant in which they matured.

Preference will be given to candidates with experience in interactive media, digital processing, and/or programming.

Most twisters, though, show a preference for wide-open spaces.

Preference will be given to those with established research programs.

And they showed a strong preference for whichever reward they'd worked harder to obtain.

Preference will be given to specialists in biophysics/ medical physics or condensed matter physics.

There are far too many uncontrolled variables contributing to instructor preference other than gender.

Some preference will be given to candidates who can contribute to our creative writing courses.

In recent years, psychologists have explored the surprising extent to which our preference for the easy influences our thinking.

To begin with, it amounts to a preference for concrete achievement over raw potential.

Since the study was cross-cultural, scientists say the preference may be part of our nature.

Giving preference to children of alumni during the admissions process is basically affirmative action for the rich.

Any hole will be filled by exotic preference stock that will turn into common equity only as losses materialise.

Researchers who study human hand preference agree that.

When a preference for modern meets architecture that's traditional, the tendency is to eradicate anything old.

She observed something striking about families there: parents had a fervent preference for male offspring.

Speakers of different languages share an innate object order preference.

Display size, therefore, is largely a matter of personal preference and depends on how you plan to use the phone.

Even in the cities the preference for sons remains powerful.

Introverts have a preference to reflect more than they socialize and fat people have a preference to eat more than they move.

Conversely, no preference for the current system may be inferred from an observation of acquiescence.

It has a strong preference for shiny objects and will.

The primate preference for fairness may depend on complex social rules.

The preference could be based on smell, she says, or a breakdown in the courtship ritual.

MY preference is decidedly for extreme youthfulness and simplicity in this season's gowns.

The size of the preference provided is a key variable, the research finds.

More worrying still for private investors, this seems set to give official creditors preference over others.

We can see a weak preference among consumers, but there is clearly a gap between stated behavior and demonstrated behavior.

As to whether you'd prefer the extra insulation or not, that's a matter of individual preference.

Ferris that the latter's own preference in the matter cannot be.

Migrants bring a preference for large families with them-though this is changing as fertility falls in their countries of origin.

For example, a newborn from a monolingual household will show a preference for listening to its native language only.

The lights and heat automatically fine-tune to your preference the moment you cross the threshold.

Going further and compiling a full preference ranking of the candidates would, no doubt, be difficult and costly.

Imbibers began showing a preference for lighter spirits such as gin and vodka that could easily be produced on the sly.

But that system has been buggy, inconsistent and often used identifiable tracking cookies to set a preference not to be tracked.

They would say that this small preference is the meagerest recompense for centuries of unrelieved oppression.

Preference will be given to applicants with a background in the physical sciences.

Perhaps this preference is a phenomenon of the modern world.

Preference for our own race might have developed later, after the more ancient preference for our own accent.

As always, it comes down to individual preference and pleasure.

It is not fair to only give preference to illegal immigrants.

Overall, though, the country's preference for common sense over deep thinking has served it well.

Depending on your preference and ambition, you'll probably have to settle for a rough estimate.

The animals did not show this hand preference for noncommunicative actions, such as wiping their noses.

The source selection methodology clearly signals a preference for a smaller aircraft.

So really, it seems as though it is a matter of personal preference between the two.

It seems they exported this preference with their immigrants.

My preference has always been a cheesesteak hoagie with no mayo.

Of course, this is a ridiculous shift in preference.

The current preference is to look for more down-to-earth.

But that preference in this case is really yours, not nature's.

Always clean and oil with you preference of weapon cleaning and lubrication products after use.

Some of my students have expressed a strong preference for being allowed to review the questions immediately.

And it would have to stick to beta amyloid in preference to anything else.

There are cultural differences in the preference for cooked or raw vegetables.

The login system will remember this preference and should always default here in the future.

Even in areas with affirmative action, the primary recipients of preference are white women.

The preference for harmony crowds out alternative viewpoints.

Psychologists have shown that our preference for a product can be dramatically altered through a simple trick of presentation.

It rankles because it demonstrates a clear preference for certain religious groups over others:.

Foreign businesses say this in effect means giving preference to domestic firms.

The preference to stick with the dominant currency might secure the greenback's position for a long time.

Study subjects with a preference for one candidate reported negative reactions while watching the speaker they opposed.

We provide furnished housing as a choice of either an apartment or a villa depending on your preference.

Moreover, there is nothing to suggest that his preference is one which other people do in fact agree with.

If you develop a strong preference for one of the finalists and champion her or him, no one will begrudge you that.

When given this choice, the termites showed a preference for the smaller blocks.

Farmers for example tend to have their knowledge ignored in preference to experts who have never soiled their hands.

Granted, this preference may be due to how we're tested in school and perhaps in the world.

Brown-eyed men cannot tell paternity by a child's eye color and the study found no eye color preference among brown-eyed men.

The mice initially showed no preference for either decor, splitting their time evenly between the two compartments.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

preference (ˈprɛfərəns, ˈprɛfrəns)

—n
1.	the act of preferring
2.	something or someone preferred
3.	law
	a. the settling of the claims of one or more creditors before or to the exclusion of those of the others
	b. a prior right to payment, as of a dividend or share in the assets of a company in the event of liquidation
4.	commerce the granting of favour or precedence to particular foreign countries, as by levying differential tariffs

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

preference

1650s, "act of prefering," from prefer + -ence. Sense of "that which one prefers" is from 1864.

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Matching Quote

"Lovers of painting and lovers of music are people who openly display their preference like a delectable ailment that isolates them and makes them proud."

-Maurice Blanchot

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