favored
Americanadjective
-
regarded or treated with preference or partiality.
Her beauty made her the favored child.
-
enjoying special advantages; privileged.
to be born into the favored classes.
-
of specified appearance (usually used in combination).
ill-favored.
Other Word Forms
- favoredly adverb
- favoredness noun
- nonfavored adjective
- unfavored adjective
Etymology
Origin of favored
First recorded in 1350–1400, favored is from the Middle English word favo(u)red. See favor, -ed 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Unless he can carry the Lakers past the heavily favored Rockets in a best-of-seven series that starts Saturday at Crypto.com Arena.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026
Two that the secretary mentioned: negotiating most favored nation drug pricing with 16 large pharmaceutical companies and bringing health insurance CEOs “to the table to reform prior authorizations.”
From Barron's • Apr. 16, 2026
The findings showed that mice strongly favored carbohydrate-rich foods and stopped eating their standard chow altogether.
From Science Daily • Apr. 14, 2026
Other nations historically have favored tariffs, but in the early 2000s, the United States worked on “dragging these other countries into this more pro-free-trade dynamic,” he said.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 13, 2026
Here Mia and I were, Number Twenty-Six and Number Twenty-Seven, the two least favored children from the orphanage, and we were now beloved by our mama and papa.
From "Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina" by Michaela DePrince
![]()
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.