- favour
- [[t]fe͟ɪvə(r)[/t]]
♦♦favours, favouring, favoured(in AM, use favor)1) N-UNCOUNT If you regard something or someone with favour, you like or support them.
It remains to be seen if the show will still find favour with a 1990s audience...
No one would look with favour on the continuing military rule...
He has won favour with a wide range of interest groups.
I've come to ask you to do me a favour...
These are gestures of genuine friendship with no favours expected in return.
3) N-PLURAL: usu poss N If you say that one person gives or sells their favours to another, you mean that they have sex. [FORMAL]In her extreme youth, Maria had sold her sexual favours for money.
4) VERB If you favour something, you prefer it to the other choices available.[V n] The French say they favour a transition to democracy...
[V -ing] He favours bringing the UN into touch with `modern realities'.
Derived words:favoured ADJ-GRADEDThe favoured candidate will probably emerge after private discussions.
5) VERB If you favour someone, you treat them better or in a kinder way than you treat other people.[V n] The Government came under fire yesterday for favouring elitist arts groups in the South-east...
[V n] Another possibility is that parents favour chicks that are strong.
Derived words:favoured ADJ-GRADED usu ADJ nHer younger brother was the favoured child, encouraged and admired by both parents.
6) PHRASE: oft v-link PHR, PHR of n If you are in favour of something, you support it and think that it is a good thing.I wouldn't be in favour of income tax cuts...
Yet this is a Government which proclaims that it is all in favour of openness...
The vote passed with 111 in favour and 25 against.
7) PHRASE: PHR after v If someone makes a judgement in your favour, they say that you are right about something.If the commission rules in Mr Welch's favour the case will go to the European Court of Human Rights.
8) PHRASE: n PHR, PHR after v, v-link PHR If something is in your favour, it helps you or gives you an advantage.The protection that farmers have enjoyed amounts to a bias in favour of the countryside...
Firms are trying to shift the balance of power in the labour market back in their favour.
9) PHRASE: PHR n, usu PHR after v If one thing is rejected in favour of another, the second thing is done or chosen instead of the first.The policy was rejected in favour of a more cautious approach.
10) PHRASE: v-link PHR If someone or something is in favour, people like or support them. If they are out of favour, people no longer like or support them.
English dictionary. 2008.
