- [countable] a thing that you do to help somebody
- 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'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.
- as a favour (to somebody) I'm going as a favour to Ann, not because I want to.
- Do yourself a favour (= help yourself) and wear a helmet on the bike.
Express Yourself Asking for permission/a favourAsking for permission/a favourYou are more likely to get what you want if you can ask for it politely. Here are some ways of asking whether you may do something:- Would you mind if I opened the window?
- Could I possibly borrow your phone?
- I hate to ask, but could I please borrow your phone?
- Do you happen to have a spare pen I could borrow?
- Would it be all right if I left five minutes early?
- Is there any chance that we could stay at your house the night before our flight?
- Would it be OK to leave my bag here?
- Yes, of course.
- Go ahead.
- That's fine.
- I'd rather you didn't, if you don't mind.
- I'd prefer it if you asked somebody else.
- If there's someone else you can ask, I'd be grateful.
Extra Examples- He needed another favour from her.
- Although I am friends with the tennis ace, I don't expect any favours from him on court.
- As a personal favour to me, please don't release my story to the press.
- Thanks very much. I'll return the favour one day.
- I came here to ask you a big favour.
- Rodrigo accepted the favours bestowed on him by the new king.
- She had one last favour to ask her brother.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- big
- great
- huge
- …
- ask
- expect
- bestow
- …
- [uncountable] approval or support for somebody/something
- Artists sought the favour of wealthy patrons.
- favour with somebody The suggestion to close the road has found favour with (= been supported by) local people.
- to gain/win/lose favour with somebody
- The programme has lost favour with viewers recently.
- favour among somebody The policy is gaining favour among voters.
- in favour (with somebody) 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).
- out of favour (with somebody) Reality TV has begun to fall out of favour with viewers.
- an athlete who fell from favour after a drugs scandal
- (formal) The government looks with favour upon (= approves of) the report's recommendations.
Extra Examples- Depth of training is looked upon with favour by many employers.
- He stood in high favour at the court of Lewis the Pious.
- Her political views have not found favour in recent years.
- She is too popular with the public to find much favour with the critics.
- The bishop was said to have enjoyed the king's favour.
- The senior officials were punished and rapidly fell from favour.
- This argument found favour among advocates of multiculturalism.
- This did not meet with public favour.
- This idea has long since fallen out of favour.
- Traditionally, vigilante groups have found greater favour on the political right.
- Why are we trying to court the favour of critics?
- This piece of software has two points in its favour: it's fast and inexpensive.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- good
- great
- high
- …
- be in
- enjoy
- have
- …
- in favour of
- in somebody’s/something’s favour
- favour among
- …
- an argument in somebody/something’s favour
- a bias in somebody/something’s favour
- look with favour on somebody/something
- …
- [uncountable] treatment that is generous to one person or group in a way that seems unfair to others synonym bias
- As an examiner, she showed no favour to any candidate.
- favor(also party favor)[countable, usually plural] (North American English) a small gift given to children at a party
- favours[plural] (old-fashioned) agreement to have sex with somebody
- demands for sexual favours
help
approval
better treatment
party gift
sex
Word OriginMiddle English (in the noun sense ‘liking, preference’): via Old French from Latin favor, from favere ‘show kindness to’ (related to fovere ‘cherish’).
Idioms
See favour in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishthe cards/odds are stacked in your favour
- you are likely to succeed because the conditions are good and you have an advantageTopics Successc2
curry favour (with somebody)
- (disapproving) to try to get somebody to like or support you by praising or helping them a lot
- He’s always trying to curry favour with the boss.
- She tried to curry favour with the teachers.
do me a favour!
- (informal) 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.’
do somebody no favours
- to do something that is not helpful to somebody or that gives a bad impression of them
- You're not doing yourself any favours, working for nothing.
- The orchestra did Beethoven no favours.
in favour (of somebody/something)
- if you are in favour of somebody/something, 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.
Extra ExamplesTopics Opinion and argumentb1- He is strongly in favour of capital punishment.
- No one was willing to speak out in favour of their colleague.
- She argued in favour of this policy.
- The committee came down in favour of setting up a national body.
- an argument in favour of censorship
- Environmental conservation generally works in favour of maintaining the status quo.
- in exchange for another thing (because the other thing is better or you want it more)
- He abandoned teaching in favour of a career as a musician.
- Early in his musical career he abandoned blues in favour of jazz.
in somebody’s favour
- if something is in somebody’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.
- The golf tournament went in the Americans' favour.
- a decision or judgement that is in somebody’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.
- The High Court found in favour of the plaintiffs.
without fear or favour
- (formal) in a fair way
- They undertook to make their judgement without fear or favour.
Check pronunciation:
favour