rather than
prep1
Instead of; in preference to.
- I'd prefer a dog rather than a cat.
rather than
conj1
And not.
2
Used to indicate that the following alternative is less preferred.
- I'd like to go home early rather than risk(ing) the roads later.
- I prefer making my kids' toys myself rather than buying them.
4 more examples
- It was my wife, rather than I, who decided to leave.
- It is never better to let kids have their way whenever they wish rather than standing up for one's parental authority.
- Cheap mid-week return tickets were reintroduced by British Railways on May 7, to encourage holiday travel during the week rather than at weekends.1957 June 23, “Notes and News: Cheap Mid-Week Tickets Reintroduced”, in Railway Magazine, page 433:
- According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55: