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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

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

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 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

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

The president said he spoke to Zacharia earlier on Friday, just prior to his comments to reporters as he left the White House for a rally in Georgia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Unfortunately, many classroom teachers feel inadequately prepared to teach music, and classroom teachers’ use of music varies widely according to prior exposure to music.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

Prior to Bruch, Scotland had long been a muse for German musicians.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Prior to the injury, the Durham man was an international regular across formats and was the only England seamer to play in all five Tests in Australia.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 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

I have errands for the Prior as well.

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

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Related Words

• above-mentioned
• preceding
• previous

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