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• prior
  prior

  adjective

  preceding in time or in order; earlier or former; previous.
• Prior
  Prior

  noun

  Matthew, 1664–1721, English poet.

prior

¹ American  

[prahy-er] / ˈpraɪ ər /

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.

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noun

1. Informal. a prior conviction.

idioms

1. prior to, preceding; before.

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

prior ² American  

[prahy-er] / ˈpraɪ ər /

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.

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Prior ³ American  

[prahy-er] / ˈpraɪ ər /

noun

1. Matthew, 1664–1721, English poet.

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prior ¹ British  

/ ˈpraɪə /

adjective

1. (prenominal) previous; preceding

2. before; until

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noun

1. statistics a prior probability

prior ² British  

/ 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

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Prior ³ British  

/ ˈpraɪə /

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

• priorship
  noun
• subpriorship
  noun
• priorly
  adverb

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Etymology

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

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Explanation

Generally you should eat dinner prior to brushing your teeth. Use the adjective prior for things that exist earlier in time or that happen first in time or order. This is a formal word that is often used in legal language. A prior claim is a person's right to something that is considered more important or valuable because it came first. If you're looking for a less formal synonym, choose the word previous. Prior is from a Latin word with the same spelling.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

prior Prior

This marked a 12-percent increase from the prior year, when the shortfall came in at $1.78 trillion.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

Capital expenditure is now estimated at around 3.6 billion euros from a prior range between 3 billion euros and 3.3 billion euros.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Hours later, she pulled back a bit, issuing a statement saying she expects to replace him prior to the end of his term, which concludes in late 2029.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

The Vatican has stressed that the Pope had shown no symptoms of infection or illness prior to the procedure.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

“Still, Mrs. Hameed. The classroom was your responsibility. I trust that you make sure students don’t touch anything that they don’t have prior approval to use.”

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

Prior to that, he completed the full 90 minutes in the 4-0 win against Azerbaijani champions Sabah FK in the Champions League.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

Prior to this latest episode, investors hadn’t seen such a large spike in the number of negative beta stocks since shortly after the dot-com bubble peaked.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026

“He has evolved. Prior to the primary, it was a campaign,” she said.

From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026

Smith and pitching coach Mark Prior came out for separate mound visits.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

Let her continue to think so, for in truth you soon will be, God willing and your health permitting, for I have requested the Prior to arrange your journey with all speed.

From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli

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Related Words

• above-mentioned
• preceding
• previous

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