help
1 [C] a thing that you do to help sb:
Could you do me a favour and pick up Sam from school today? * Can I ask a favour? * I would never ask for any favours from her. * I'm going as a favour to Ann, not because I want to. * I'll ask Steve to take it. He owes me a favour. * Thanks for helping me out. I'll return the favour (= help you because you have helped me) some time. * Do yourself a favour (= help yourself) and wear a helmet on the bike.
approval
2 [U] approval or support for sb/sth:
The suggestion to close the road has found favour with (= been supported by) local people. * The programme has lost favour with viewers recently. * an athlete who fell from favour after a drugs scandal * (formal) The government looks with favour upon (= approves of) the report's recommendations. * She's not in favour with (= supported or liked by) the media just now. * It seems Tim is back in favour with the boss (= the boss likes him again).
better treatment
3 [U] treatment that is generous to one person or group in a way that seems unfair to others:
As an examiner, she showed no favour to any candidate.
party gift
4 (favors) [pl.] (AmE) = PARTYFAVORS
sex
5 (favours) [pl.] (old-fashioned) agreement to have sex with sb:
demands for sexual favours
IDIOMS
do sb no favours to do sth that is not helpful to sb or that gives a bad impression of them:
You're not doing yourself any favours, working for nothing. * The orchestra did Beethoven no favours.
Do me a favour! (spoken) used in reply to a question that you think is silly:
'Do you think they'll win?' 'Do me a favour! They haven't got a single decent player.'
in favour (of sb/sth)
1 if you are in favour of sb/sth, you support and agree with them/it:
He argued in favour of a strike. * There were 247 votes in favour (of the motion) and 152 against. * I'm all in favour of (= completely support) equal pay for equal work. * Most of the 'don't knows' in the opinion polls came down in favour of (= eventually chose to support) the Democrats.
2 if you replace one thing in favour of another, you think the second thing is better or you want it more:
He abandoned teaching in favour of a career as a musician.
in sb's favour
1 if sth is in sb's favour, it gives them an advantage or helps them:
The exchange rate is in our favour at the moment. * She was willing to bend the rules in Mary's favour.
2 a decision or judgement that is in sb's favour benefits that person or says that they were right:
The court decided in Ms Smith's favour and she received compensation for unfair dismissal.
moreatCURRYv., FEARn., STACKED
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
This entry for favour is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is favour a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, favour is tagged as noun.
Does favour appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — favour appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
prefer
1 to prefer one system, plan, way of doing sth, etc. to another:
[VN] Many countries favour a presidential system of government. * It's a resort favoured by families with young children. [also V-ing, VN-ing]
treat better
2 [VN] to treat sb better than you treat other people, especially in an unfair way:
The treaty seems to favour the US. * My parents always favoured my older brother.
help
3 [VN] to provide suitable conditions for a particular person, group, etc:
The warm climate favours many types of tropical plants.
look like parent
4 [VN] (old-fashioned or AmE) to look like one of your parents or older relations:
She definitely favours her father.
