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Father vs Rather - What's the difference?

father | rather |

As a proper noun father

is (christianity) god, the father of creation.

As an adverb rather is

(obsolete) more quickly; sooner, earlier.

As a verb rather is

(nonstandard|or|dialectal) to prefer; to prefer to.

As an adjective rather is

(obsolete) prior; earlier; former.

father

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A (generally human) male who begets a child.
  • * Bible, Proverbs x. 1
    • A wise son maketh a glad father .
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.}}
  • A male ancestor more remote than a parent; a progenitor; especially, a first ancestor.
  • * Bible, 1 Kings ii. 10
    • David slept with his fathers .
  • * Bible, Rom. iv. 16
    • Abraham, who is the father of us all
  • * Shakespeare
    • Bless you, good father friar!
  • A person who plays the role of a father in some way.
  • * Bible, Job xxix. 16
    • I was a father to the poor.
  • * Bible, Genesis xiv. 8
    • He hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house.
  • The founder of a discipline or science.
  • A senator of Ancient Rome.

    • Synonyms

    * (parent) See also

    Antonyms

    * (with regards to gender) mother * (with regards to ancestry) son, daughter, child

    Hypernyms

    * (a male parent) parent

    Derived terms

    * Father Christmas * Father of Lies * Father Time * Father's Day * fatherhood * father-in-law * fatherland * fatherless * fatherliness * fatherly * forefather * godfather * God the Father * grandfather * great-grandfather * Heavenly Father * how's your father * * stepfather

    Related terms

    * Father

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To be a father to; to sire.
  • * 1592 , v 4
    • Well, go to; we'll have no bastards live; Especially since Charles must father it.
  • (figuratively) To give rise to.
  • * 1610 — ii 2
    • Cowards father cowards and base things sire base.
  • To act as a father; to support and nurture.
  • * 1610 — iv 2
    • Ay, good youth! And rather father thee than master thee.
  • To provide with a father.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Think you I am no stronger than my sex, / Being so fathered and so husbanded?
  • To adopt as one's own.
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • Men of wit / Often fathered what he writ.

    See also

    * beget * grandpa * pater * paternal *

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * 100 English basic words English terms with homophones 1000 English basic words

    rather

    English

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (obsolete) More quickly; sooner, earlier.
  • Used to specify a choice or preference; preferably. (Now usually followed by than )
  • *
    • Firstly, I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material, rather than on herbarium plants.
  • (conjunctive) Used to introduce a contradiction; on the contrary.
  • (conjunctive) Introducing a qualification or clarification; more precisely. (Now usually preceded by or .)
  • * 1897 , (Henry James), (What Maisie Knew) :
    • What the pupil already knew was indeed rather taken for granted than expressed, but it performed the useful function of transcending all textbooks and supplanting all studies.
  • * 1898, J. A. Hamilton, ", Volume LIV: Stanhope–Stovin , The MacMillan Company, page 60,
    • His ‘Iliad’ is spirited and polished, and, though often rather a paraphrase than a translation, is always more truly poetic than most of the best translations.
  • * , chapter=12
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill.
  • (degree) Somewhat, fairly.

    • Usage notes

    * (somewhat) This is a non-descriptive qualifier'', similar to quite and fairly and somewhat. It is used where a plain adjective needs to be modified, but cannot be qualified. When spoken, the meaning can vary with the tone of voice and stress. "''He was rather big''" can mean anything from "not small" to "huge" (meiosis with the stress on ''rather ).

    Synonyms

    * liever, liefer, as lief * (to a certain extent) somewhat, fairly, quite

    Antonyms

    * (somewhat) utterly

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (nonstandard, or, dialectal) To prefer; to prefer to.
  • * 1984 , Bruce Brooks, The Moves Make the Man :
    • Until just before the pie was popped into the heat. A few of them suddenly realized who put that gorgeous hunk of crackers together, and gaped. We grinned back, but very cool. The ones who knew said nothing, rathering to die than let on they had been hustled by two negative dudes.
  • * 2002 , Sarah Waters, Fingersmith :
    • It was a plain brown dress, more or less the colour of my hair; and the walls of our kitchen being also brown, when I came downstairs again I could hardly be seen. I should have rathered a blue gown, or a violet one
  • * 2002 , Elizabeth Bowen, The Heat of the Day :
    • So you must excuse my saying anything I did: all it was, that up to the very last I had understood us all to be friendly — apart, that is, from his rathering me not there. How was I to know he would flash out so wicked?
  • * 2007 , Mikel Schaefer, Lost in Katrina , page 323:
    • "That was a killer," said Chris. "I'd rathered' die in St. Bernard than spent one minute over there. I would have ' rathered the storm, shaking with the wind and rain hitting in the boat for an eternity than spending any time there.

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (obsolete) Prior; earlier; former.
  • * Sir J. Mandeville
    • Now no man dwelleth at the rather town.

    Statistics

    * English conjunctive adverbs English degree adverbs