Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Preferably |
PreferablyAdverb1. More readily or willingly; "clean it well, preferably with warm water"; "I'd rather be in Philadelphia"; "I'd sooner die than give up". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "preferably" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1588. (references) |
Synonyms: PreferablySynonyms: rather (adv), sooner (adv). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Preferably |
| English words defined with "preferably": rather ♦ sooner. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "preferably": abstract page ♦ Boric Acids, Bremsstrahlung ♦ cachet of the customs service ♦ Dance ♦ equipment flowsheet, extrait automatique ♦ grandfather-father and son file ♦ Internet Access Provider ♦ mine warfare chart, mouse mat, MPC Level 1 Specification ♦ plughole stopping ♦ refusal rate ♦ Sperry process ♦ take, type section ♦ Windows NT. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | We'll need transportation preferably four-wheel drive. (Uncommon Valor; writing credit: Joe Gayton) Well perhaps you should consider moving to a hotel closer to the sea, preferably in it. (Fawlty Towers; writing credit: John Cleese; Connie Booth) I also hope to cum loud one day, preferably in a 69. (Mallrats; writing credit: Kevin Smith) Juking? Oh! Well, that's when you get in a car, which is preferably open in any kind of weather. (The Fugitive Kind; writing credit: Meade Roberts; Tennessee Williams) Finding new and preferably disgusting ways to degrade a friend's mother was always held in high regard. (Stand by Me; writing credit: Raynold Gideon) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Author | Quotation |
Julius Caesar | Which death is preferably to every other? ''The unexpected''. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Medical care is important, preferably by a doctor who is a pulmonary vascular specialist. (references) | |
Provide access to knowledgeable emergency and inpatient pediatric services, preferably in a tertiary care center. (references) | ||
The repeat blood sample should be obtained with minimal venous occlusion and preferably with the patient fasting. (references) | ||
Business | Internet service as well as the ASP service are among those that would be preferably offered to companies. (references) | |
Brochures and instruction manuals must be properly translated and preferably produced in the host country. (references) | ||
While thermal treatment is favored in Germany for treatment of organic hazardous waste, inorganic waste is preferably treated with physical-chemical methods. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Iran | It stated in part that Baha'is could only be enrolled in schools provided they did not identify themselves as Baha'is, and that Baha'is preferably should be enrolled in schools that have a strong and imposing religious ideology. (references) |
Economic History | Hungary | New firms seeking to enter the Hungarian environmental technology market place are advised to establish a local presence, preferably by teaming up with a local partner. (references) |
Austria | It is vital that the software be "bug-free" and preferably written in German. (references) | |
Political Economy | BRAZIL | The 1988 Constitution limits the workweek to 44 hours and specifies a weekly rest period of 24 consecutive hours, preferably on Sundays. (references) |
Trade | India | If there are delays beyond these time limits, investors seek release of shipments anyway, preferably against a performance bond, since bank guarantees are more expensive. (references) |
Djibouti | Bank officials claim that local credit is available as long as collateral can be secured through local assets or internationally, preferably through French banks. (references) | |
Travel | Nigeria | Business appointments preferably are made through personal calls or hand-delivered messages since the telephone/fax system is unreliable and the mail is slow. (references) |
Worker Rights | Brazil | The Constitution limits the workweek to 44 hours and specifies a weekly rest period of 24 consecutive hours, preferably on Sundays. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | TAKE, v.t. To acquire, frequently by force but preferably by stealth. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Preferably" is generally used as an adverb (general) -- approximately 99.74% of the time. "Preferably" is used about 783 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adverb (general) | 99.74% | 781 | 8,852 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.26% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 783 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
preferably | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "preferably"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaans | sommer (rather), liewer (rather). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | më mirë (as well, better, instead, rather). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | بكل المميزات. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | за предпочитане (had rather, preferable), по-добре (better, superiorly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 憖 (injured, moreover), 更好地. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | přednostnì. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | hellere (rather). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | liever (rather), eer (before, honor, honour, previous to, rather). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | prefere (rather), pli volonte. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | mieluummin (rather, sooner), mieluimmin. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Flemish | liefst (most preferably). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | plutôt, volontiers, mieux, le mieux, de préférence (in preference). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | vorzugsweise (chiefly, mainly, preferentially), lieber (better, dear, rather, sooner). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | κατά προτίμησιν, κατά προτίμηση (in preference to). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מוטב (better, rather). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | inkább (before, first, more, rather, soon). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Icelandic | heldur (rather, Take for true/Think). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | enakan (more confortable, more pleasant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | piuttosto (better, kind of, little, pretty, quite, rather, somewhat, soon, sooner). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 낫게. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | jeh reih. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | eferablypray raczej (rather). (various references) mais (else, encore, farther, further, furthermore, more, moreover, most, one more time, plus, rater, rather, some more, still, upstair, upward, upwards, yet). (various references) preferabil (better, preferable). (various references) предпочтительно. (various references) pre (afore, ago, anteriorly, back, before, earlier, ere, pre, previous to, prior to, rather, sooner), radije (had rather, rather). (various references) más bien (nay, rather). (various references) helst (all, entirely, especially, ever), företrädesvis (especially, par excellence, particularly). (various references) tercihen (by choice, for choice, liefer, preferentially, rather). (various references) найкраще (best, tiptop). (various references) thích hơn, hơn (above, ahead, more), ưa hơn. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | potius. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Preferably" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: perferably, perferrably, preferabley, preferbably, preferebly, preferibly, preferrabl, preferrably, prefferably, prferably. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "preferably" (pronounced pre"ferublē or pre"frublē) |
| 5 | -er u b l ē | admirably, comparably, considerably, favorably, honorably, incomparably, inexorably, inseparably, intolerably, irreparably, measurably, memorably, miserably, unalterably, unfavorably. |
| 4 | -u b l ē | amiably, amicably, appreciably, arguably, audibly, charitably, comfortably, conceivably, credibly, creditably, demonstrably, equitably, fashionably, feasibly, flexibly, forcibly, formidably, horribly, impeccably, imperceptibly, implausibly, impossibly, improbably, incredibly, indelibly, indisputably, inevitably, inexplicably, inextricably, interchangeably, interminably, invariably, irresistibly, irresponsibly, irretrievably, irreversibly, irrevocably, justifiably, knowledgeably, notably, noticeably, ostensibly, palpably, passably, peaceably, plausibly, possibly, predictably, presumably, probably, profitably, reasonably, recognizably, regrettably, reliably, remarkably, respectably, responsibly, sensibly, suitably, terribly, unacceptably, unaccountably, unavoidably, unbearably, unbelievably, uncomfortably, uncontrollably, undeniably, understandably, unequivocably, unjustifiably, unmistakably, unpredictably, unquestionably, unreasonably, unseasonably, visibly. |
| 3 | -b l ē | ably, assembly, bubbly, doubly, feebly, glibly, humbly, immeasurably, nimbly, nobly, reassembly, subassembly, superbly, trembly. |
| 5 | -r u b l ē | demonstrably, horribly, terribly, unbearably. |
| 4 | -u b l ē | admirably, amiably, amicably, appreciably, arguably, audibly, charitably, comfortably, comparably, conceivably, considerably, credibly, creditably, equitably, fashionably, favorably, feasibly, flexibly, forcibly, formidably, honorably, impeccably, imperceptibly, implausibly, impossibly, improbably, incomparably, incredibly, indelibly, indisputably, inevitably, inexorably, inexplicably, inextricably, inseparably, interchangeably, interminably, intolerably, invariably, irreparably, irresistibly, irresponsibly, irretrievably, irreversibly, irrevocably, justifiably, knowledgeably, measurably, memorably, miserably, notably, noticeably, ostensibly, palpably, passably, peaceably, plausibly, possibly, predictably, presumably, probably, profitably, reasonably, recognizably, regrettably, reliably, remarkably, respectably, responsibly, sensibly, suitably, unacceptably, unaccountably, unalterably, unavoidably, unbelievably, uncomfortably, uncontrollably, undeniably, understandably, unequivocably, unfavorably, unjustifiably, unmistakably, unpredictably, unquestionably, unreasonably, unseasonably, visibly. |
| 3 | -b l ē | ably, assembly, bubbly, doubly, feebly, glibly, humbly, immeasurably, nimbly, nobly, reassembly, subassembly, superbly, trembly. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-e-e-f-l-p-r-r-y" | |
-2 letters: parleyer. | |
-3 letters: palfrey, pearler. | |
-4 letters: barely, barfly, barley, barrel, bearer, beflea, beleap, belfry, bleary, brayer, eyebar, fabler, fearer, feebly, ferrel, flayer, freely, leaper, parley, parrel, pearly, player, prayer, prefab, prefer, preyer, rarefy, rarely, realer, reaper, repeal, replay, yelper. | |
-5 letters: abele, abler, apery, baler, barer, barre, barye, beefy, beery, belay, berry, beryl, blare, blear, bleep. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-e-e-f-l-p-r-r-y" | |
+3 letters: preferability. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)50 72 65 66 65 72 61 62 6C 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).--. .-. . ..-. . .-. .- -... .-.. -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010000 01110010 01100101 01100110 01100101 01110010 01100001 01100010 01101100 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)P r e f e r a b l y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0050 0072 0065 0066 0065 0072 0061 0062 006C 0079 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)50847172718467687891 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Quotations: Familiar 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Translations: Ancient 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Orthography 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
