Human-verified examples from authoritative sources
Exact Expressions
60 human-written examples
But Republican primary voters too often make the mistake of preferring an unattainable ideal to the best candidate who is actually running.
Ebert was conflicted – it offended him to preface his article with such a warning, not least because the NSFW label was, as he put it, an "unsightly typographical offence", but mostly because it "would contradict the point I was making", namely that he was opposed to American puritanism, preferring Europe's supposed festive nudearama.
As we know, until now he has hesitated from holding the vast majority of his cash assets in his own name, preferring to accept the offer of Mrs Green that she holds them in Trust on his behalf".
The Germans approached the game with their usual phlegmatic sense of discipline and organisation, preferring Thomas Berthold to Wolfgang Rolff to give them extra width, pace and penetration on the right.
The top deck of the bus is the perfect party: enveloped in the comfort of the crowd, yet safe in the knowledge that no one will speak to me (and I'll not be sorely judged for preferring not to speak to them).
He avoids pubs but still goes to football, preferring to watch Fulham who were, he says, always his first club of choice.
Hepworth was rarely a willing speechmaker, preferring to let her art do her talking for her, but on the occasion of the unveiling of her sculpture in 1961 she was required to say a few words.
The CIA, and the Senate intelligence committee, would rather avoid the word "torture," preferring euphemisms like "enhanced interrogation techniques" and "rendition, detention and interrogation program".
Reich famously declined to continue in academia, preferring to support himself via a series of blue-collar jobs.
Tripoli is the main gathering point, but the smugglers themselves steer clear of the capital, preferring the more district locations such as Zuwara or Garabulli.
She worked almost exclusively with natural light and ignored the camera's in-built light meter, preferring instead to hold a clenched fist away from her body to see how the light fell on the back of her hand.
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The primary grammatical function of "preferring" is as a present participle , often functioning as part of a continuous verb tense or as an adjective modifying a noun. As confirmed by Ludwig AI, it indicates a current state of preference. Examples show it is used to describe an ongoing choice or inclination.
Expression frequency: Very common
