What does rather mean?
Definitions for rather
ˈræð ər, ˈrɑ ðərrather
Here are all the possible meanings and translations of the word rather.
Princeton's WordNet
rather, insteadadverb
on the contrary
"rather than disappoint the children, he did two quick tricks before he left"; "he didn't call; rather (or instead), he wrote her a letter"; "used English terms instead of Latin ones"
rather, kind of, kinda, sort ofadverb
to some (great or small) extent
"it was rather cold"; "the party was rather nice"; "the knife is rather dull"; "I rather regret that I cannot attend"; "He's rather good at playing the cello"; "he is kind of shy"
preferably, sooner, ratheradverb
more readily or willingly
"clean it well, preferably with warm water"; "I'd rather be in Philadelphia"; "I'd sooner die than give up"
quite, ratheradverb
to a degree (not used with a negative)
"quite tasty"; "quite soon"; "quite ill"; "quite rich"
Wiktionary
ratherverb
To prefer; to prefer to.
ratheradverb
More quickly; sooner, earlier.
ratheradverb
Used to specify a choice or preference; preferably.
ratheradverb
Used to introduce a contradiction; on the contrary.
ratheradverb
Introducing a qualification or clarification; more precisely. (Now usually preceded by or.)
ratheradverb
Somewhat, fairly.
Etymology: From rather, rether, from hraþor, comparative of hraþe, equivalent to. More at rathe.
Webster Dictionary
Ratheradjective
prior; earlier; former
Ratheradjective
earlier; sooner; before
Ratheradjective
more readily or willingly; preferably
Ratheradjective
on the other hand; to the contrary of what was said or suggested; instead
Ratheradjective
of two alternatives conceived of, this by preference to, or as more likely than, the other; somewhat
Ratheradjective
more properly; more correctly speaking
Ratheradjective
in some degree; somewhat; as, the day is rather warm; the house is rather damp
Etymology: [Compar. of Rath, a.]
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Rather
räth′ėr, adv. more willingly: in preference: especially: more so than otherwise: on the contrary: somewhat, in some degree: more properly: (coll.) considerably, very much.—adj. Rath′erish, to a slight degree, somewhat.—Rather better than, somewhat in excess of.—The rather, by so much the more. [A.S. hrathor, comp. of hrathe, early.]
British National Corpus
Spoken Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'rather' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #444
Written Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'rather' in Written Corpus Frequency: #442
Adverbs Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'rather' in Adverbs Frequency: #61
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of rather in Chaldean Numerology is: 1
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of rather in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7
Examples of rather in a Sentence
We are now living in the generation of bodybuilders, rather than walking amongst of those who are ready, or well prepared to conquer their daily desires.
The children are coming back today (a small part of them rather). Very strange, even disturbing atmosphere, the children play, dance, jump, laugh together ... but from this square.
That was Barack Obama one chance to win over the low - and moderate-income whites that are deeply suspicious of Barack Obama, barack Obama could have won over whites with a New Deal jobs program rather than a health care act.
Democrats would rather raise money on Republican atrocities than change them
When push comes to shove, people are going to realize Jeb has real solutions. Rather than talking about how popular they are, how great they are, he's doing it because he sees a huge need and it's not being filled by anybody, of all the people running, he seems to be the one who can solve the problems. I think he'll be a great president.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
Translations for rather
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- بالأحرىArabic
- повече, скоро, достаBulgarian
- preferiblement, força, bastantCatalan, Valencian
- spíše, spíš, radějiCzech
- eithaf, mwy, yn hytrachWelsh
- eher, lieber, ziemlichGerman
- μάλλονGreek
- pli ĝusteEsperanto
- más bien, algo, bastante, preferiblementeSpanish
- ennemEstonian
- بلکهPersian
- pikemminkin, tarkemmin sanottuna, mieluummin, vaan, aika, melkoFinnish
- nokkso, rættiligaFaroese
- plutôtFrench
- preferibilmente, meglio, piuttosto, abbastanzaItalian
- אלאHebrew
- 寧ろ, 一層, むしろ, かなりJapanese
- potiusLatin
- gluži, diezganLatvian
- nogal, meer, liever, eerderDutch
- ganske, fortrinnsvis, heller, nokså, temmeligNorwegian
- bastante, preferivelmente, um tanto, de preferência, bem, meioPortuguese
- лучше, скорее, довольноRussian
- rätt, helst, ganska, hellreSwedish
- швидшеUkrainian
- بلکہUrdu
- ליבערשטYiddish
- 宁可Chinese
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