prior

¹

[prahy-er]

adjective

1. preceding in time or in order; earlier or former; previous.

   A prior agreement prevents me from accepting this.

   Synonyms: antecedent, anterior

2. preceding in importance or privilege.

noun

1. Informal.,  a prior conviction.

prior

²

[prahy-er]

noun

1. an officer in a monastic order or religious house, sometimes next in rank below an abbot.

2. a chief magistrate, as in the medieval republic of Florence.

Prior

³

[prahy-er]

noun

1. Matthew, 1664–1721, English poet.

prior

¹

/ ˈpraɪə /

adjective

1. (prenominal) previous; preceding

2. before; until

noun

1. statistics a prior probability

prior

²

/ ˈpraɪə /

noun

1. the superior of a house and community in certain religious orders

2. the deputy head of a monastery or abbey, ranking immediately below the abbot

3. (formerly) a chief magistrate in medieval Florence and other Italian republics

Prior

³

/ ˈpraɪə /

noun

1. Matthew. 1664–1721, English poet and diplomat, noted for his epigrammatic occasional verse

Other Word Forms

• priorly adverb
• priorship noun
• subpriorship noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of prior¹

First recorded in 1705–15; from Latin: “former, elder, superior” (adjective), “before” (adverb); akin to pre-, prime

Origin of prior²

First recorded before 1100; Middle English, late Old English, from Medieval Latin, Late Latin: “one superior in rank”; noun use of prior prior ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of prior¹

C18: from Latin: previous

Origin of prior²

C11: from Late Latin: head, from Latin (adj): previous, from Old Latin pri before

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. prior to, preceding; before.

   Prior to that time, buffalo had roamed the Great Plains in tremendous numbers.

Example Sentences

This strike mandate was achieved prior to TfL's present pay offer being made, with a 57.5.% turnout.

From BBC

Her son "requires very specialist therapy" after he "had a really difficult start in life" prior to his adoption.

From BBC

"The alternative would be to simply release people without any prior testing which would pose a far greater risk to public safety."

From BBC

"A lot of services closed prior to this funding. What we are needing is more services, we need more residential rehab."

From BBC

Sarwar said he had had not been aware of any concerns about Smyth's behaviour prior to his arrest, but that Labour suspended him as soon as it knew of the "seriousness of the allegations".

From BBC

Related Words

• above-mentioned www.thesaurus.com
• preceding 
• previous