📒 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.
📒 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
📒 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.
📒 a small gift given to children at a party
📒 agreement to have sex with somebody
- demands for sexual favours
📒 you are likely to succeed because the conditions are good and you have an advantage
📒 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.
- He tried to curry favour with the teachers.
📒 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.’
📒 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.
📒 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.
📒 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.
📒 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.
📒 in a fair way
- They undertook to make their judgement without fear or favour.