Rather vs Fair - What's the difference?
rather | fair |
(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
Beautiful, of a pleasing appearance, with a pure and fresh quality.
:
:
*{{quote-book, year=1917, year_published=2008
, edition=HTML, author=(Edgar Rice Burroughs), publisher=The Gutenberg Project
, title= *{{quote-book, year=2010, author=(Stephan Grundy)
, title= Unblemished (figuratively or literally); clean and pure; innocent.
:
:
*Book of Common Prayer
*:a fair white linen cloth
Light in color, pale, particularly as regards skin tone but also referring to blond hair.
:
*1677 , (Matthew Hale),
*:the northern people large and fair -complexioned
*
*:This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking. In complexion fair , and with blue or gray eyes, he was tall as any Viking, as broad in the shoulder.
Just, equitable.
:
*
*:“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
Adequate, reasonable, or decent.
:
*, chapter=3
, title= Favorable to a ship's course.
Not overcast; cloudless; clear; pleasant; propitious; said of the sky, weather, or wind, etc.
:
*(Matthew Prior) (1664-1721)
*:You wish fair winds may waft him over.
Free from obstacles or hindrances; unobstructed; unencumbered; open; direct; said of a road, passage, etc.
:
*Sir (Walter Raleigh) (ca.1554-1618)
*:The caliphs obtained a mighty empire, which was in a fair way to have enlarged.
(lb) Without sudden change of direction or curvature; smooth; flowing; said of the figure of a vessel, and of surfaces, water lines, and other lines.
(lb) Between the baselines.
Something which is fair (in various senses of the adjective).
(obsolete) A woman, a member of the ‘fair sex’; also as a collective singular, women.
* 1744 , , act 2, scene 8
* 1749 , Henry Fielding, Tom Jones , Folio Society 1973, p. 39:
* 1819 , Lord Byron, Don Juan , III.24:
(obsolete) Fairness, beauty.
A fair woman; a sweetheart.
* Shenstone
(obsolete) Good fortune; good luck.
* Shakespeare
To smoothen or even a surface (especially a connection or junction on a surface).
To bring into perfect alignment (especially about rivet holes when connecting structural members).
To construct or design a structure whose primary function is to produce a smooth outline or reduce air drag or water resistance.
(obsolete) To make fair or beautiful.
* Shakespeare
A community gathering to celebrate and exhibit local achievements.
An event for public entertainment and trade, a market.
* , chapter=7
, title= An event for professionals in a trade to learn of new products and do business.
A funfair, an amusement park.
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.As a proper noun fair is
.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.
fair
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) fayr, feir, fager, from (etyl) .Adjective
(er)A Princess of Mars, passage="It was a purely scientific research party sent out by my father's father, the Jeddak of Helium, to rechart the air currents, and to take atmospheric density tests," replied the fair prisoner, in a low, well-modulated voice.}}
Beowulf, genre=Fiction, publisher=iUniverse, isbn=9781440156977, page=33 , passage=And yet he was also, though many generations separated them, distant cousin to the shining eoten-main Geard, whom the god Frea Ing had seen from afar and wedded; and to Scatha, the fair daughter of the old thurse Theasa, who had claimed a husband from among the gods as weregild for her father's slaying: often, it was said, the ugliest eotens would sire the fairest maids.}}
The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, page 200
Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.}}
Synonyms
* (beautiful) beautiful, pretty, lovely * (unblemished) pure, clean, neat * (light in color) pale * (just) honest, just, equitableDerived terms
* all's fair in love and war * fair and square * fair cop * fair copy * fair go * fair play * fair sex * fair to middling * fair use * fair-weather friend * to be fairNoun
(fair)- When will we learn to distinguish between the fair and the foul?
- ''Love and Hymen, hand in hand,
- ''Come, restore the nuptial band!
- ''And sincere delights prepare
- ''To crown the hero and the fair .
- In enjoying, therefore, such place of rendezvous, the British fair ought to esteem themselves more happy than any of their foreign sisters
- If single, probably his plighted Fair / Has in his absence wedded some rich miser [...].
- (Shakespeare)
- I have found out a gift for my fair .
- Now fair befall thee!
Verb
(en verb)- Fairing the foul.
Synonyms
* (to reduce air drag or water resistance) to streamlineDerived terms
* fair off * fair up * fairingDerived terms
* bid fair * fair and squareEtymology 2
From (etyl) feire, from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=The turmoil went on—no rest, no peace. […] It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.}}
