What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Preference vs Expectation - What's the difference?

preference | expectation |

As nouns the difference between preference and expectation

is that preference is the selection of one thing or person over others while expectation is the act or state of expecting or looking forward to an event as about to happen.

As a verb preference

is to give preferential treatment to; to give a preference to.

preference

Alternative forms

* (archaic)

Noun

(Preferans) (en noun)
  • The selection of one thing or person over others.
  • The option to so select, and the one selected.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=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.}}
  • The state of being preferred over others.
  • A strong liking or personal valuation.
  • A preferential bias; partiality; discrimination.
  • Preferans, a card game, principally played in Eastern Europe.
  • Verb

    (preferenc)
  • (US) To give preferential treatment to; to give a preference to.
  • See also

    * preferences ----

    expectation

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act or state of expecting or looking forward to an event as about to happen.
  • *
  • *:“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.
  • That which is expected or looked for.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=Ep./1/1
  • , passage=And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties?; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay,
  • The prospect of the future; grounds upon which something excellent is expected to occur; prospect of anything good to come, especially of property or rank.
  • *1816 , (Jane Austen), , Vol.1 Ch.7:
  • *:Emma was not sorry to be pressed. She read, and was surprized. The style of the letter was much above her expectation . There were not merely no grammatical errors, but as a composition it would not have disgraced a gentleman; the language, though plain, was strong and unaffected, and the sentiments it conveyed very much to the credit of the writer. It was short, but expressed good sense, warm attachment, liberality, propriety, even delicacy of feeling. She paused over it, while Harriet stood anxiously watching for her opinion, with a "Well, well," and was at last forced to add, "Is it a good letter? or is it too short?"
  • The value of any chance (as the prospect of prize or property) which depends upon some contingent event.
  • (lb) The first moment; the long-run average value of a variable over many independent repetitions of an experiment.
  • (lb) The arithmetic mean.
  • The leaving of a disease principally to the efforts of nature to effect a cure.
  • Usage notes

    * (value of any chance) Expectations are computed for or against the occurrence of the event.

    Synonyms

    * (sense) arithmetic mean; average

    See also

    * (statistics)