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noun sth that helps sb ADJ. big, great | little, small | special | personal As a personal favour to me, please don't release my story to the press. | political, sexual VERB + FAVOUR ask I came here to ask you a favour, a big favour. | expect Although I am friends with the tennis ace, I don't expect any favours from him on court. | bestow, do, grant sb Rodrigo accepted the favours bestowed on him by the new king. Do yourself a favour and cut your credit cards in half. | owe sb I'll ask Jane. She owes me a favour. | return Thanks very much. I'll return the favour one day. | seek | obtain | accept, receive approval or support for sb/sth ADJ. great, high, particular Traditionally, vigilante groups have found greater favour on the political right. He stood in high favour at the court of Lewis the Pious. | divine, government, political, royal In the Christian tradition, the world exists only as an act of divine favour. VERB + FAVOUR be in, enjoy, have, stand in The bishop was said to have enjoyed the king's favour. | find, gain, win Her political views have not found favour in recent years. | curry trying to curry favour with the teachers | show As an examiner, she showed no favour to any candidate. | be out of | fall from, fall out of, lose The senior officials were punished and rapidly fell from favour. This idea has long since fallen out of favour. | be back in, bring sth back into, come back into A style of art can go out of fashion and then come back into favour fifty years later. | argue in, speak (out) in to argue in favour of this policy | come down/out in, decide in, find in, resolve in, rule in, vote in The committee came down in favour of setting up a national body. The High Court found in favour of the plaintiffs. | work in Environmental conservation generally works in favour of maintaining the status quo. | go in The golf tournament went in the Americans' favour (= they won). PREP. in ~ of He is strongly in favour of capital punishment. Early in his musical career he abandoned blues in favour of jazz. | in sth's ~ This piece of software has two points in its favour: it's fast and inexpensive. | ~ with She is too popular with the public to find much favour with the critics. PHRASES an argument in sb/sth's favour an argument in favour of censorship | a bias in sb/sth's favour, look with favour on/upon sb/sth Depth of training is looked upon with favour by many employers. | without fear or favour (= in a fair way), verb ADV. strongly We strongly favour reform of the system. VERB + FAVOUR appear to, be known to, be likely to, be thought to, seem to, tend to The prime minister is thought to favour an early referendum on the issue. PREP. at the expense of He favoured some individuals at the expense of others. | over News coverage should not favour one party over another.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
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general::
favour
verbs
do somebody a favour
(= do something for someone )
• Could you do me a favour and lend me £5?
ask somebody a favour
( also ask a favour of somebody formal )
• I felt nervous about asking Stephen a favour.
owe somebody a favour
(= feel that you should do something for someone because they have done something for you )
• I owe you a favour for all the help you’ve given me.
return a favour
(= do something for someone because they have done something for you )
• He helped me in the past and now he wanted me to return the favour.
adjectives
a big favour
• I’ve got a big favour to ask of you.
a great favour
• He acted as though he’d done us a great favour by coming.
a small/little favour
• Can you do me a small favour?
a special favour
• I agreed to deliver the parcel as a special favour to Paul.
a personal favour
(= something you do specially for a particular person )
• As a personal favour, he let us use the hall to rehearse.
a political favour
• He was accused of granting political favours in return for illegal payments.
phrases
as a favour to somebody
(= because you want to be kind, not because you have to )
• She delivered the parcel as a favour to her sister.
do yourself a favour
(= do something good for yourself )
• Do yourself a favour and read as many books on the subject as possible.
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