rather than

1 of 2

conjunction

1

—used with the infinitive form of a verb to indicate negation as a contrary choice or wish

rather than continue the argument, he walked away

chose to sing rather than play violin

2

: and not

obscures rather than resolves the problem

why do one thing rather than another?

happy rather than sad

rather than

2 of 2

preposition

: instead of

rather than being pleased, she was angry

Examples of rather than in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Conjunction

The agency framed the waiver as a security measure rather than a consumer restriction. —Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 13 Jan. 2026

Critics say appetite from firms like Pretium, Blackstone, and others has driven up prices and pushed homebuilders to build to Wall Street specs, rather than increasing the number of disappearing starter homes. —Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 13 Jan. 2026

Preposition

Legislators can learn from the past by anticipating the future rather than simply reacting after the fact. —Krista Kafer, Denver Post, 25 Jan. 2026

But for the first decade of his career Jones was among the most dominant center fielders baseball had ever seen, and as time went on more voters opted to reward that greatness rather than punish him for his abrupt decline. —Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 25 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Conjunction

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Preposition

1595, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for rather than

• businessman
• canavan
• caravan
• constantan
• dragoman
• fisherman
• handyman
• harmattan
• journeyman
• marianne
• middleman
• minivan

Kids Definition

rather than

1 of 2 conjunction

1

—used to indicate negation or a contrary choice or wish

rather than argue, he walked away

chose to sing rather than play violin

2

: and not

happy rather than sad

why one thing rather than another?

rather than

2 of 2 preposition

: instead of

rather than being pleased, she was angry