rather

Etymology
From, from , comparative of. More at. Cognate with 🇨🇬, comparative of 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬,, 🇨🇬. .

Adverb

 * 1) ; preferably, in preference to. (Now usually followed by than)
 * 2)  ; on the contrary.
 * 3)  ; more precisely. (Now usually preceded by or.)
 * 4) * 1898, J. A. Hamilton, "Stanley, Edward George Geoffrey Smith", in Sidney Lee (Ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, Volume LIV: Stanhope–Stovin, The MacMillan Company, 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.
 * 1)  Somewhat, quite; to an unexpected degree.
 * 2)  More quickly.
 * 1)  ; on the contrary.
 * 2)  ; more precisely. (Now usually preceded by or.)
 * 3) * 1898, J. A. Hamilton, "Stanley, Edward George Geoffrey Smith", in Sidney Lee (Ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, Volume LIV: Stanhope–Stovin, The MacMillan Company, 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.
 * 1)  Somewhat, quite; to an unexpected degree.
 * 2)  More quickly.
 * 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.
 * 1)  Somewhat, quite; to an unexpected degree.
 * 2)  More quickly.
 * 1)  Somewhat, quite; to an unexpected degree.
 * 2)  More quickly.
 * 1)  More quickly.
 * 1)  More quickly.
 * 1)  More quickly.
 * 1)  More quickly.
 * 1)  More quickly.

Usage notes

 * This is a non-descriptive qualifier, similar to and  and . 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).
 * When expressing preference, the expression is usually would rather or had rather, usually contracted to 'd rather, but will rather and should rather also exist. In fact, use without any modal verb also exists in nonstandard and dialectal usage, in which rather is used as a verb (he rathers/rathered), see below.

Translations

 * Afrikaans: liewer
 * Arabic: بِالْأَحْرَى
 * Belarusian: хутчэ́й
 * Bulgarian: за предпочитане
 * Catalan:, més aviat
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:, ,
 * Czech:, ,
 * Danish: hellere
 * Dutch:
 * Estonian: ennem,
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * German: ,
 * Greek:
 * Ancient: μᾶλλον, θᾶσσον
 * Hungarian:, ,
 * Icelandic: fremur
 * Italian: ,
 * Japanese:, ,
 * Latin: potius
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål:, , snarere
 * Nynorsk: heller, fortrinnsvis
 * Occitan:
 * Old English: lēofre
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:, preferivelmente, de preferência
 * Romanian: mai degrabă
 * Russian: ,
 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Sicilian: scanciu
 * Spanish: preferiblemente
 * Swedish:, ,
 * Turkish: daha ziyade
 * Ukrainian: ра́дше, скорі́ше, кра́ще, шви́дше
 * Welsh: yn hytrach
 * Yiddish: ליבערשט


 * Belarusian: хутчэ́й
 * Bulgarian: по-скоро
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: ,
 * Danish: tværtimod
 * Dutch:
 * Finnish: ,
 * French:
 * German: im Gegenteil,
 * Hungarian: ,
 * Japanese:
 * Korean:
 * Malayalam: മറിച്ച്
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: snarere, tvert imot
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese: ao contrário,
 * Russian: ,
 * Sicilian: scanciu
 * Spanish: más bien, al contrario
 * Swedish:
 * Turkish:
 * Ukrainian: скорі́ше,


 * Bulgarian: по-скоро, по-точно
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:
 * Danish: snarere
 * Finnish:, tarkemmin sanottuna
 * Georgian: უფრო სწორად
 * German:, um genau zu sein
 * Hungarian:, , jobban mondva, , , helyesebben
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: snarere,
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:, , melhor dizendo,
 * Russian:
 * Serbo-Croatian: tačnije
 * Spanish: más bien
 * Swedish:
 * Ukrainian: ра́дше


 * Belarusian: даво́лі, до́сыць
 * Bulgarian: ,
 * Catalan:, , més aviat
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:
 * Danish:
 * Dutch:, , , , best wel
 * Faroese: nokkso, rættiliga
 * Finnish: ,
 * French:
 * German:, ,
 * Greek:
 * Hungarian:, ,
 * Italian: ,
 * Japanese:
 * Latvian: diezgan, gluži
 * Navajo: tʼáá yédígo
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål:, nokså,
 * Nynorsk: ganske, nokså, temmeleg
 * Polish: ,
 * Portuguese:, , ,
 * Romagnol: abastânza
 * Russian: ,
 * Sicilian:
 * Spanish: ,
 * Swedish:, ,
 * Thai:
 * Turkish:
 * Ukrainian: доста́тньо,
 * Vietnamese:
 * Welsh:


 * Dutch: ,
 * Italian:
 * Welsh:

Verb

 * 1)  To prefer; to prefer to.

Adjective

 * 1)  Prior; earlier; former.
 * 2) * 1900,, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (version in modern spelling)
 * Now no man dwelleth at the rather town of Damietta.