priority — English Dictionary

Noun

1. An item's relative importance.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   He set his e-mail message's priority to high.

2. A goal of a person or an organisation.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   She needs to get her priorities straight and stop playing games.

3. The quality of being earlier or coming first compared to another thing; the state of being prior.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   In bankruptcy law, a business' debt to its employees has priority over its debt to a landlord, so the employees must be paid first.

   More examples (1)

   But it's now platform extension work which will allow the station to handle LNER Azuma trains which needs to take priority, if a direct service to London King's Cross is to begin in 2021.

4. A superior claim to use by virtue of being validly published at an earlier date.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable
   • of a name

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Neither [Jones][…] nor I (in 1966) could conceive of reducing our "science" to the ultimate absurdity of reading Finnish newspapers almost a century and a half old in order to establish "priority."

5. Precedence; superior rank.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Follow Cominius. We must follow you. / Right worthy you priority.

   Sozomen is not criticizing Constantine but rather asserting that bishops have priority over emperors, in case the readers might not have understood this […]

   More examples (2)

   Who has priority, one's mother or one's wife? Question: To whom should a married man should give much preference, either his mother or wife?

   The Holy Ghost is here and He has priority—remember that. The Holy Ghost has priority over your pastor, your church, your teachers—priority over every human thing. He is God, and being God, His voice has priority over all voices,[…]

6. Right of way; The right to pass (an intersection) before other road users.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

Noun

1. status established in order of importance or urgency

   Synonyms

   precedenceprecedency

   Broader terms

   high status

   Examples

   … its precedence as the world's leading manufacturer of pharmaceuticals

   national independence takes priority over class struggle

2. preceding in time

   Synonyms

   antecedenceantecedencyanteriorityprecedenceprecedency

   Antonyms

   posteriority

   Broader terms

   earliness