Prefer vs Infer - What's the difference?
prefer | infer |
*, II.3.2:
*:Tiberius preferred many to honours in his time, because they were famous whoremasters and sturdy drinkers.
(lb) To be in the habit of choosing something rather than something else; to favor; to like better.
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*
*:"My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects;."
(lb) To present or submit (something) to an authority (now usually in "to prefer charges").
*1630 , , True Travels , in Kupperman 1988, p.36:
*:one Master David Hume, who making some use of his purse, gave him Letters to his friends in Scotland to preferre him to King James.
*1817 , (Walter Scott), , XVII:
*:Such were the arguments which my will boldly preferred to my conscience, as coin which ought to be current, and which conscience, like a grumbling shopkeeper, was contented to accept.
prefer'' + noun + ''to'' (or ''over'') + noun. Example: ''I prefer coffee to tea .
* prefer'' + gerund + ''to'' (or ''over'') + gerund. Example: ''I prefer skiing to swimming .
* prefer'' + full infinitive + ''rather than'' + bare infinitive. Example: ''I prefer to eat fish rather than (eat) meat .
To introduce (something) as a reasoned conclusion; to conclude by reasoning or deduction, as from premises or evidence.
* 2010 , "Keep calm, but don't carry on", The Economist , 7 Oct 2010:
To lead to (something) as a consequence; to imply. (Now often considered incorrect, especially with a person as subject.)
*, II.3:
* Shakespeare
* Sir Thomas More
(obsolete) To cause, inflict (something) (upon) or (to) someone.
* 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.8:
(obsolete) To introduce (a subject) in speaking, writing etc.; to bring in.
* Shakespeare
As verbs the difference between prefer and infer
is that prefer is while infer is to introduce (something) as a reasoned conclusion; to conclude by reasoning or deduction, as from premises or evidence.prefer
English
Alternative forms
* * preferreVerb
(preferr)Usage notes
* The verb can be used in three different forms: *Derived terms
* preference * preferentialinfer
English
Verb
(inferr)- It is dangerous to infer too much from martial bluster in British politics: at the first hint of trouble, channelling Churchill is a default tactic for beleaguered leaders of all sorts.
- These and a thousand like propositions, which concurre in this purpose, do evidently inferre .
- This doth infer the zeal I had to see him.
- The first part is not the proof of the second, but rather contrariwise, the second inferreth well the first.
- faire Serena.
- Full well hath Clifford played the orator, / Inferring arguments of mighty force.
Usage notes
There are two ways in which the word "infer" is sometimes used as if it meant "imply". "Implication" is done by a person when making a "statement", whereas "inference" is done to a proposition after it had already been made or assumed. Secondly, the word "infer" can sometimes be used to mean "allude" or "express" in a suggestive manner rather than as a direct "statement". Using the word "infer" in this sense is now generally considered incorrect.[http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000232.htm