rather
Part of speech: adv
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: From Middle English rather, from Old English hraþor, comparative of hraþe (“soon, early, fast”). More at rathe. Cognate with Dutch radder (“faster”), comparative of Dutch rad (“fast; quick”), German Low German radd, ratt (“rashly; quickly; hastily”), German gerade (“even; straight; direct”). By surface analysis, rathe + -er.
Inflected forms:
form: raither
pos: adv
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: Used to specify a choice or preference; preferably, in preference to. (Now usually followed by than)
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: I'd rather not have spent all the money, but it really was an emergency.
I would like this one rather than the other one.
I s'pose we'd better clean the kitchen, but we had much rather not do anything right now.
Tomorrow's impossible. We'd rather you came next weekend.
They'd rather've spent the money on a holiday.
Firstly, I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material, rather than on herbarium plants.
I'd rather dance with you than talk with you / So why don't we just move into the other room
gloss: Used to introduce a contradiction; on the contrary.
pos: adv
tags: conjunctive
not-comparable
examples: It wasn't supposed to be popular; rather, it was supposed to get the job done.
She didn't go along, but rather went home instead.
Are the characteristics that are ascribed to lingua franca communication general lingua franca features? Or are they rather properties of the lingua franca that is presently most frequently used in this function – English?
gloss: Introducing a qualification or clarification; more precisely. (Now usually preceded by or.)
pos: adv
tags: conjunctive
not-comparable
examples: 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.
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.
All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill.[…]Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connection—or rather as a transition from the subject that had started their conversation—such talk had been distressingly out of place.
I didn't want to leave. Or rather I did, just not alone.
gloss: Somewhat, quite; to an unexpected degree.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: It's been rather/quite a good meal overall, but this melon is rather too tasteless.
We had some rather worse news today.
We’ll be seeing rather a lot of you over the next few days.
gloss: 2005, Annabelle du Fouet, “The murky world from whence it all came” (chapter 2), in Weather Balloons Make Rotten Sex Toys, Ellora's Cave, →ISBN, page 45
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
gloss: 2005, Annabelle du Fouet, “The murky world from whence it all came” (chapter 2), in Weather Balloons Make Rotten Sex Toys, Ellora's Cave, →ISBN, page 45:
Translated from the original Latin, it reads, “Ivan the third; does it with birds.” Rather juvenile, don’t you think?
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
gloss: More quickly.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
obsolete
examples: Pompey, being elated and filled with confidence by this victory, made all haste to engage Sertorius himself, and the rather lest Metellus should come in for a share in the honour of the victory.
Derived words: druthers
I would rather die
ratherish
rather than
sooner rather than later
Translations: