- Advantageous; helpful: favorable winds.
- Encouraging; propitious: a favorable diagnosis.
- Manifesting approval; commendatory: a favorable report.
- Winning approval; pleasing: a favorable impression.
- Granting what has been desired or requested: a favorable reply.
- Indulgent or partial: listened with a favorable ear.
favorably fa'vor·a·bly adv.
SYNONYMS favorable, propitious, auspicious, benign, conducive. These adjectives describe what is indicative of a successful outcome. Favorable can refer to what contributes in a positive way to the attainment of a goal: a favorable review. Propitious implies a favorable tendency or inclination: "Miracles are propitious accidents" (George Santayana). Auspicious refers to what presages good fortune: an auspicious beginning. Benign applies to people or things that exert a beneficial influence: "I lingered round them, under that benign sky . . . and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth" (Emily Brontë). Something conducive leads or contributes to a result, often a desirable one: a quiet place conducive to reading.





