Meanings
preference1
plural preferences
- countableuncountableThe option to so select, and the one selected.
Can I keep my preferences when I upgrade to the new version of this application?
1 more example
Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much.
2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18 - countableuncountableThe state of being preferred over others.
present singular third person preferences · participle present preferencing · participle past preferenced · past preferenced
- USTo give preferential treatment to; to give a preference to.
preference2
- uncountablePreferans, a card game, principally played in Eastern Europe.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe selection of one thing or person over others (with the main adposition being "for" in relation to the thing or person, but possibly also "of")
nounA preferential bias; partiality; discrimination.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Frenchpreference
- Englishpreference
From Middle French preference, from Medieval Latin preferentia. Doublet of preferans. Morphologically prefer + -ence. Compare typologically Russian предвзя́тость (predvzjátostʹ) (<< взять (vzjatʹ), a suppletive of брать (bratʹ), which is cognate with Latin ferō).
More words from Middle French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans voorkeur
- voorkeurstate of being preferred
Ancient Greek προαίρεσις, πρόκριμα
- προαίρεσις (proaíresis)selection
- πρόκριμα (prókrima)selection
Arabic تَفْضِيل, أَفْضَلِيَّة
- تَفْضِيل (tafḍīl)selection
- أَفْضَلِيَّة (ʔafḍaliyya)selection
Bulgarian предпочита́ние, и́збор
- предпочита́ние (predpočitánie)selection
- и́збор (ízbor)selection
- предпочита́ние (predpočitánie)option to select or selected
Catalan preferència, preferència
- preferènciaselection
- preferènciaoption to select or selected
- preferènciastate of being preferred
Chinese Mandarin 優選 /优选, 選擇 /选择
- 優選 /优选 (yōuxuǎn)selection
- 選擇 /选择 (xuǎnzé)selection
- 優先 /优先 (yōuxiān)state of being preferred
- 偏好 (piānhào)liking
- 喜愛 /喜爱 (xǐ'ài)liking
Czech preference, přednost
- preferenceselection
- přednostselection
Danish præference
- præferenceselection
Dutch voorkeur, preferentie
- voorkeurselection
- preferentieselection
- voorkeurstate of being preferred
Esperanto prefero
- preferooption to select or selected
Estonian eelistus
- eelistusselection
Finnish valinta, preferenssi
- valintaselection
- preferenssiselection
- valintaoption to select or selected
- suosikkiasemastate of being preferred
- suosituimmuusstate of being preferred
- preferenssiliking
- mieltymysliking
- puolueellisuusbias
French préférence
- préférenceselection
German Vorliebe, Präferenz
- Vorliebeselection
- Präferenzselection
- Vorzugselection
- Vorliebeoption to select or selected
- Bevorzugungoption to select or selected
- Bevorzugungstate of being preferred
- Vorzugstate of being preferred
- Vorliebeliking
- Bevorzugungliking
Hebrew הַעֲדָפָה, הַעֲדָפָה
- הַעֲדָפָה (ha'adafá)selection
- הַעֲדָפָה (ha'adafá)option to select or selected
- הַעֲדָפָה (ha'adafá)state of being preferred
- הַעֲדָפָה (ha'adafá)liking
- הַעֲדָפָה (ha'adafá)bias
Hindi प्राथमिकता, वरीयता
- प्राथमिकता (prāthmiktā)selection
- वरीयता (varīytā)selection
- अग्रिमता (agrimtā)selection
- प्राथमिकता (prāthmiktā)state of being preferred
- वरीयता (varīytā)state of being preferred
Hungarian preferencia
- preferenciaselection
Icelandic kjörkostur
- kjörkosturoption to select or selected
Italian preferenza, preferenza
- preferenzaselection
- preferenzastate of being preferred
Japanese 選択, 優先
- 選択 (sentaku)selection
- 優先 (yūsen)state of being preferred
- 好み (konomi)liking
- 依怙贔屓 (ekohīki)bias
Korean 선택, 우선
- 선택 (seontaek)selection
- 우선 (useon)state of being preferred
Latvian priekšroka
- priekšrokaselection
Lithuanian preferencija
- preferencijaselection
Māori manakotanga, manakotanga
- manakotangaoption to select or selected
- manakotangastate of being preferred
- mariutangastate of being preferred
Norwegian Bokmål preferanse
- preferanseselection
Polish preferencja, preferencja
- preferencjaselection
- preferencjaoption to select or selected
- preferencjabias
Portuguese preferência, preferência
- preferênciaselection
- preferênciaoption to select or selected
- preferênciastate of being preferred
- preferêncialiking
- preferênciabias
Romanian preferință, preferință
- preferințăselection
- preferințăoption to select or selected
- preferatstate of being preferred
- preferatăstate of being preferred
Russian предпочте́ние, префере́нция
- предпочте́ние (predpočténije)selection
- префере́нция (preferéncija)selection
- вы́бор (výbor)selection
- вы́бор (výbor)option to select or selected
- префере́нция (preferéncija)option to select or selected
- предпочте́ние (predpočténije)option to select or selected
- предпочте́ние (predpočténije)state of being preferred
- вы́бор (výbor)state of being preferred
- предпочте́ние (predpočténije)liking
- предпочте́ние (predpočténije)bias
- префере́нция (preferéncija)bias
Slovak preferencia, prednosť
- preferenciaselection
- prednosťselection
Spanish preferencia, preferencia
- preferenciaselection
- preferencialiking
- preferenciabias
Swedish företräde, preferens
- företrädeselection
- preferensselection
- företrädeoption to select or selected
- företrädestate of being preferred
- förkärlekliking
- preferensliking
- förmånsrättbias
Tamil முன்னுரிமை, சார்பு
- முன்னுரிமை (muṉṉurimai)state of being preferred
- சார்பு (cārpu)bias
- பாரபட்சம் (pārapaṭcam)bias
Turkish tercih, tercih
- tercihselection
- tercihoption to select or selected
- tercihstate of being preferred
- tercihliking
- tercihbias
Ukrainian перева́га, ви́бір
- перева́га (pereváha)selection
- ви́бір (výbir)selection
- перева́га (pereváha)option to select or selected
- ви́бір (výbir)option to select or selected
- перева́га (pereváha)state of being preferred
- перева́га (pereváha)liking
- перева́га (pereváha)bias
Urdu تَرْجِیح
- تَرْجِیح (tarjīh)selection
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with preference
All rhymes →Cite this entry
preference. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/preference
“preference.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/preference. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “preference,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/preference.
Source: preference on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.