preferential

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A preferential treatment or policy means that one group or person gets special attention or benefits that others don't.

You've probably seen this happen in real life - like when your boss gives a favorite employee more projects to work on, or when a school offers extra help to students who are struggling. A preferential policy can be fair if it's based on something like a student's financial need or a worker's experience. But sometimes it feels unfair, like if someone gets special treatment just because they're friends with the person in charge.

How common is "preferential"?

Word preferential is considered rare in modern English.
It appears most frequently in academic texts and less often in other writings.

Definitions

adjective

Of or relating to the showing or giving of preference.
Example: Club members received preferential seating.
Of or relating to a voting system in which the voters are allowed to indicate on their ballots their preference (usually their first and second choices) between two or more candidates, so that if no candidate receives a majority of first choices the one receiving the greatest number of first and second choices together is the winner.
Example: preferential voting; the preferential system

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Real examples of "preferential" in context

We simulated if you can really reach anyone in 6 steps

Entertainment

We named this process preferential attachment.

19:03

And we showed that growth and preferential attachment together naturally lead to the emergence of the hubs.

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preferential

How common is "preferential"?

adjective

Real examples of "preferential" in context

We simulated if you can really reach anyone in 6 steps

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