The meaning is essentially identical to "instead of", but has a more formal feeling. "Instead of watching TV, I decided to go running" "I decided to go running instead of watching TV" "Rather than watching TV, I decided to go running" "I decided to go running rather than watching TV" Are all equivalent and fairly natural.

Hello Kou, Using 'rather than' shows that you prefer to do one thing more than another. - 'I'd like a pizza rather than pasta.' There was a famous song which has the lyrics - 'I'd rather be a hammer than a nail!' Hope this helps Bob

According to what i know rather than could be considered as "instead of".example:-"i will go by train rather than bus".(this is same as ) i will go by train instead of bus.in simple way rather than=not by/do. the same sentence but modified in very simple meaning becomes like this"i will go by train not by bus" i hope you got my explanation

These two words commonly occur in a phrase that compares one possibility with another, for example -' I would rather go to the cinema than to the theatre.' However you could also say 'Rather than go to the theatre let's go to the cinema.'