/ˈpɹaɪ.ə/, /ˈpɹaɪ.(ə)ɹ/, /ˈpɹɑe.ə/
OriginThe adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin prior (“earlier, former, previous, prior; in front; (figurative) better, superior”), from Proto-Italic *priōs (“earlier, previous”, literally “more before”), ultimately from *pri (“before”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pró (“leading to, toward”) and its etymon *per- (“before, in front; first”)) + *-jōs (suffix forming comparative adjectives). Doublet of before, fore, and former.
The adverb and noun are derived from the adjective.
- not-comparableComing before in order or time; earlier, former, previous.
“His prior residence was smaller than his current one.”
“I had no prior knowledge you were coming.”
“Since therefore 'tis poſſible for all objects to become cauſes or effects to each other, it may be proper to fix ſome general rules, by vvhich vve may knovv vvhen they really are ſo. […] 2. The cauſe ”
- not-comparableMore important or significant.
- not-comparableChiefly in prior probability: of the probability of an event: determined without knowledge of the occurrence of other events that bear on it, before additional data is collected.
- Chiefly followed by to: in advance, before, previously.
“The doctor had known three months prior.”
“From the opening shots of the anonymous young Winterfell boy rushing to catch a glimpse of Jon Snow and Queen Daenerys Targaryen, hearkening back to those moments of the very first episode in which Ar”
- A prior probability distribution, that is, one determined without knowledge of the occurrence of other events that bear on it, before additional data is collected.
- broadlyIn the rationalsphere: a belief supported by previous evidence or experience that one can use to make inferences about the future.
“During each of these touchpoints, I'm asking myself where and how my thesis on each holding could be wrong. I'm checking each data point as it comes in against my priors. I'm comparing management beha”
“The votes are in, and our priors are confirmed. The truth is that midterms are nearly as predictable as death and taxes: The party that controls the White House always loses and often badly at that.”
- Canada, US, in-pluralA previous arrest or criminal conviction on someone's criminal record.
“And a little later we get the routine report on his prints from Washington, and he's got a prior back in Indiana, attempted hold-up six years ago.”
- In an abbey, the person ranking just after the abbot, appointed as his deputy; a prior claustral.
“It is not yet an hundred yere a goe, ſince that ſame mayſter doctour was butler in the ſame houſe, whereof I was maiſter and praiour: […]”
- The head of a priory (“a monastery which is usually a branch of an abbey”), or some other minor or smaller monastery; a prior conventual.
- The head friar of a house of friars.
- The head of the Arrouaisian, Augustinian, and formerly Premonstratensian religious orders.
- An honorary position held by a priest in some cathedrals.
“[I]t hath appertained to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York for the space of four hundred years or thereabouts to have spiritual jurisdiction over all your Grace's subjects dwelling within the pro”
- historicalA chief magistrate of the Republic of Florence (1115–1569) in what is now Italy.
“[F]irſt of all among themſelves of the ancienteſt they chuſe three heads or chiefs vvhich they call Priors; and alſo of the youngeſt among them they chuſe tvvo vvho perform the office of Secretaries. ”
- historicalThe elected head of a guild of craftsmen or merchants in some countries in Europe and South America.
- obsoleteA person who is the earliest or most prominent in a field; the chief.
- obsoleteThe head of a company.
- A surname originating as an occupation for someone employed by a prior.
- An unincorporated community in Douglas County, Missouri, United States.
Formsmore prior(comparative) · most prior(superlative) · priors(plural) · priour(alternative) · Pryor(alternative)