Rather vs About - What's the difference?
rather | about | Related terms |
(obsolete) More quickly; sooner, earlier.
Used to specify a choice or preference; preferably. (Now usually followed by than )
*
(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) :
* 1898, J. A. Hamilton, ", Volume LIV: Stanhope–Stovin , The MacMillan Company,
* , chapter=12
, title= (degree) Somewhat, fairly.
(nonstandard, or, dialectal) To prefer; to prefer to.
* 1984 , Bruce Brooks, The Moves Make the Man :
* 2002 , Sarah Waters, Fingersmith :
* 2002 , Elizabeth Bowen, The Heat of the Day :
* 2007 , Mikel Schaefer, Lost in Katrina , page 323:
(obsolete) Prior; earlier; former.
* Sir J. Mandeville
In a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of.
* c.1604-1605 , (William Shakespeare), ''
* 1769 , '', iii, 3
Near; not far from; regarding approximately time, size, quantity.
* c.1590-1591 , (William Shakespeare),
* 1769 , '', xx, 3,
* 1769 , '', ix, 18
* , chapter=4
, title=[http://openlibrary.org/works/OL5535161W Mr. Pratt's Patients]
, passage=I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.}}
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
, title=[http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21581981-what-pollution-some-opportunity-others-welcome-plastisphere Welcome to the plastisphere]
, passage=[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria,
On the point or verge of.
* 1769 , '', xviii, 14
* 1866 , A treatise on the law of suits by attachment in the United States , by Charles Daniel Drake, [http://books.google.de/books?id=Igs-AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=%22was+about+leaving%22&source=bl&ots=aQXMZaxYAu&sig=T2wNto6m-YO2kSAwyWV-SivvnUw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YblHUKaUJc2LswbzkIHQDw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22was%20about%20leaving%22&f=false page 80]
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1
, passage=I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.}}
On one's person; nearby the person.
* 1837 , , Ernest Maltravers: Volume 1
Over or upon different parts of; through or over in various directions; here and there in; to and fro in; throughout.
* 1671 , (John Milton),
* 1849 , (Thomas Babington Macaulay), The history of England from the accession of James the Second
Concerned with; engaged in; intent on.
* 1769 , '', ii, 49
* 2013 March 14, (Parks and Recreation)'', season 5, episode 16, ''Bailout :
Concerning; with regard to; on account of; on the subject of; to affect.
* 1671 (John Milton), ''(Samson Agonistes)
* 1860 , (Anthony Trollope), (Framley Parsonage)
* , chapter=4
, title=[http://openlibrary.org/works/OL5535161W Mr. Pratt's Patients]
, passage=I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.}}
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
, title=[http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21579879-buy-out-firm-really-does-focus-operational-improvements-engineers Engineers of a different kind]
, passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about , they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}
(label) In or near, as in mental faculties or (label) in possession of; in control of; at one's command; in one's makeup.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2
, passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.
In the immediate neighborhood of; in contiguity or proximity to; near, as to place.
*{{quote-book, year=1892, author=(James Yoxall)
, chapter=5, title=[http://openlibrary.org/works/OL10504990W The Lonely Pyramid]
, passage=The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.
Not distant; approximate.
#On all sides; around.
#*1599 , , III-ii,
#*:Why, then, I see, ‘tis time to look about , / When every boy Alphonsus dares control.
#Here and there; around; in one place and another; up and down.
#*1769 , King James Bible'', Oxford Standard text, '' , v,13,
#*:And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.
#*
#*:He and Gerald usually challenged the rollers in a sponson canoe when Gerald was there for the weekend; or, when Lansing came down, the two took long swims seaward or cruised about in Gerald's dory, clad in their swimming-suits; and Selwyn's youth became renewed in a manner almost ridiculous,.
#Nearly; approximately; with close correspondence, in quality, manner, degree, quantity, or time; almost.
#:
#*1769 , King James Bible'', Oxford Standard text, '' , xxxii,28:
#*:And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
#*
#*:“Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are'' pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling ''à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better.”
#Near; in the vicinity.
In succession; one after another; in the course of events.
On the move; active; astir.
To a reversed order; half round; facing in the opposite direction; from a contrary point of view.
:
*1888 , ,
*:Mr. Carter, whose back had been turned, turned about and faced his niece.
#(lb) To the opposite tack.
(lb) Preparing; planning.
(lb) In circuit; circularly; by a circuitous way; around the outside; in circumference.
:
*1886 , Duncan Keith, A history of Scotland: civil and ecclesiastical from the earliest times to the death of David I, 1153 , Vol.1,
*:Nothing daunted, the fleet put to sea, and after sailing about the island for some time, a landing was effected in the west of Munster.
Moving around; astir.
:
*1898 , , ,
*:'John, I have observed that you are often out and about of nights, sometimes as late as half past seven or eight.'
In existence; being in evidence; apparent;
*1975 , IPC Building & Contract Journals Ltd, Highways & road construction , Vol.43,
*:To my mind, transportation engineering is similar to flying in the 1930s — it has been about for some time but it has taken the present economic jolt to shake it out of its infancy, in the same way that the war started the development of flying to its current stage.
*2005 , IDG Communications, Digit , Issues 89-94,
*:Although it has been about for some time now, I like the typeface Sauna.
*2006 , Great Britain Parliament: House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, Energy: Meeting With Malcolm Wicks MP ,
*:Is not this sudden interest in capturing CO2 — and it has been about for a little while — simply another hidey-hole for the government to creep into?
Normally active and capable.
:
Rather is a related term of about.
As adverbs the difference between rather and about
is that rather is (obsolete) more quickly; sooner, earlier while about is not distant; approximate.As adjectives the difference between rather and about
is that rather is (obsolete) prior; earlier; former while about is moving around; astir.As a verb rather
is (nonstandard|or|dialectal) to prefer; to prefer to.As a preposition about is
in a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of .rather
English
Adverb
(-)- Firstly, I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material, rather than on herbarium plants.
- 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.
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.
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill.
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, quiteAntonyms
* (somewhat) utterlyVerb
(en verb)- 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.
- 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
- 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?
- "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
(-)- Now no man dwelleth at the rather town.
about
English
(wikipedia about)Alternative forms
* (archaic) abowt; (abbreviation)Etymology 1
From (etyl) aboute, abouten, from (etyl)Preposition
(English prepositions)- So look about you; know you any here?
- Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
- Therefore I know she is about my height.
- And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace
- Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.
- And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you:
- [It] was held, that the latter requirement was fulfilled by an affidavit declaring that "the defendant was about leaving the State permanently."
- (Note: This use passes into the adverbial sense.)
- At this assurance the traveller rose, and approached Alice softly. He drew away her hands from her face, when she said gently, "Have you much money about you?"
- "Oh the mercenary baggage!" said the traveller to himself; and then replied aloud "Why, pretty one? Do you sell your kisses so high, then?"
- That heard the Adversary, who, roving still / About the world, at that assembly famed ...
- He had been known, during several years, as a small poet; and some of the most savage lampoons which were handed about the coffeehouses were imputed to him.
- And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
- RON: And I'll have the number 8.
- WAITER: That's a party platter, it serves 12 people.
- RON: I know what I'm about , son.
- I already have made way / To some Philistian lords, with whom to treat / About thy ransom.
- "I'll tell you what, Fanny: she must have her way about Sarah Thompson. You can see her to-morrow and tell her so."