The verb favor is linked to the idea of favor : providing collaboration or assistance. By favoring an individual, they are granted protection , a benefit is given, or help is granted. For example: “The owner of the company always tries to favor the employees who work the hardest” , “Don't worry: if I have to make a decision, I'm going to favor you” , “The governor was accused of favoring his nephew through a decree."
In certain contexts, favoring is an action reprehensible from an ethical or even legal point of view. A judge, to cite one case, must be impartial: his decisions, beyond his interpretation of the laws , must be tied to concrete and objective facts. That is why you should not favor a friend with decisions that are not supported by legislation. In a similar sense, a ruler cannot take measures to benefit his family members, but must govern for the common good.
Favoring, on the other hand, means supporting or promoting a cause , a project , an initiative , etc. A president can implement policies to promote the growth of the economy: that is, to contribute to the development of production, the creation of jobs and progress in general.
A business, meanwhile, can stop delivering plastic bags to its customers in order to care for the environment . As plastic is a polluting material and is not biodegradable, the merchant is aware of how harmful these bags can be and decides not to use them anymore.
If we turn to a thesaurus, we find the following list of terms that can be used in many cases to replace the verb favor , although we must always pay attention to the context before proceeding to make the replacement: benefit, help , assist, protect, cooperate , auxiliary, encourage, serve, protect, help and sponsor . Regarding its antonyms, we can mention the following two: harm and forsake .
Let's start by evaluating some of the synonyms, taking as reference the examples presented in the previous paragraphs. If we think of a person who occupies a management position in a company and does everything possible to benefit his most dedicated employees, we could say that he benefits them, and even that through this action he encourages or sponsors their attitude towards work.
On the other hand, if you overlook the many efforts of employees and refuse to compensate them adequately, we could also use one of the antonyms of favor to say that you forsake them, since you do not offer them the protection they deserve by being at your disposal. your position and dedicate hours of your day to a third-party company. One of the consequences of this negligence is the decrease in employee performance , something that usually occurs when they become demotivated due to the lack of incentives from their superiors.
In the case of the judge who favors a friend or family member, we can also talk about helping or even cooperating , depending on the situation, but always to the detriment of the rights of his people. In short, any action that serves to improve the conditions of a certain phenomenon or that promotes the success of a third party in the pursuit of its own goals falls within the framework of this definition.
Although the antonyms proposed above are valid, we can also see an intermediate point between benefit and harm, precisely where negligence is found: ignoring the needs of others can be as serious or even worse than going against them.