Rather vs Only - What's the difference?
rather | only |
(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
Alone in a category.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author=
, volume=189, issue=7, page=32, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Singularly Superior; the best.
* (William Shakespeare)
Without sibling; without a sibling of the same gender.
* 1949 , and (Ernestine Gilbreth Carey), (Cheaper by the Dozen) , dedication:
(label) Mere.
* , I.40:
Without others or anything further; exclusively.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=
, volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= No more than; just.
* 1949 , Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, (Cheaper by the Dozen) , dedication:
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=20 * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= As recently as.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (obsolete) Above all others; particularly.
* Marston
Under the condition that; but.
However.
But for the fact that; except.
(rare) only child
* 2013 , Sybil L. Hart, ?Maria Legerstee, Handbook of Jealousy
In obsolete terms the difference between rather and only
is that rather is prior; earlier; former while only is above all others; particularly.As a verb rather
is to prefer; to prefer to.As a conjunction only is
under the condition that; but.As a noun only is
only child.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.
only
English
Alternative forms
* onely (obsolete)Adjective
(-)Nick Miroff
Mexico gets a taste for eating insects, passage=The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters such as ostrich, wild boar and crocodile. Only the city zoo offers greater species diversity.}}
- Motley's the only wear.
- To DAD ¶ who only reared twelve children ¶ and ¶ To MOTHER ¶ who reared twelve only children
- I know some who wittingly have drawne both profit and preferment from cuckoldrie, the only name whereof is so yrksome and bail-ful to so many men.
Synonyms
* (alone in a category) sole, lone * (singularly superior) peerless, unequaled, nonpareilDerived terms
* if any * if only * one and only * only child * only game in town * only ifAdverb
(-)Ed Pilkington
‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told, passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}
- To DAD
- who only reared twelve children
- and
- To MOTHER
- who reared twelve only children
citation, passage=‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’}}
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.}}
Yesterday’s fuel, passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).}}
- his most only elected mistress
Derived terms
* if and only if * only ifConjunction
(English Conjunctions)Statistics
*Noun
(onlies)- The consistent finding that infants who are onlies do not differ from those who have siblings despite their lesser history of exposure to differential treatment is perplexing.