Phrase
Fully loadedrather than
preposition
而不是；与其…不如…
instead of; in preference to
- 1.
Instead of; in preference to.
而不是；宁愿
而不是；宁愿
In use
I chose tea rather than coffee because I wanted less caffeine.
We decided to walk rather than take the bus.
She prefers to cook at home rather than eat out.
rather than + noun/noun phrase
rather than 用于表达选择，强调取前者而弃后者。
I chose tea rather than coffee.
我选了茶而不是咖啡。
rather than + doing sth
后接动词时常用 -ing 形式，动作发出者通常就是句子主语。
Rather than driving, she decided to walk.
她决定走路，而不是开车。
rather than + prepositional phrase
当对比的是地点或方向时，rather than 后可直接跟介词短语。
Connections
Collocations
- sooner rather than later
- 尽早；而不是拖延
- Please reply sooner rather than later.请尽早回复。
- more rather than less
- 更多而不是更少；与其说更少，不如说更多
- The situation is becoming more rather than less complicated.情况不是变得不那么复杂，而是变得更加复杂。
- rather than vice versa
- 而不是相反
- Good parents learn from their children rather than vice versa.好的父母会向孩子学习，而不是相反。
Idioms & figurative uses
- sooner rather than later
- 尽早；尽快We need to address the problem sooner rather than later.我们需要尽快解决这个问题。
- the exception rather than the rule
- 例外情况而非常态；并不常见Snow in April is the exception rather than the rule here.
Learner notes
Memory Tip
把 rather than 想成天平：宁可(rather)要左边，而不是(than)右边。记住‘宁愿A而不是B’。
Context & Register
语域：mixed 常见场景：正式写作、学术文章、演讲对比 rather than 作介词时表示‘而不是’，多用于正式或书面的对比表达；日常口语中更常用 instead of。
High-value vocabulary
该词属于 Oxford 核心词汇，值得优先掌握常见搭配和句型。
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.