preceding in time or in order; earlier or former; previous.
A prior agreement prevents me from accepting this.
preceding in importance or privilege.
an officer in a monastic order or religious house, sometimes next in rank below an abbot.
a chief magistrate, as in the medieval republic of Florence.
(prenominal) previous; preceding
before; until
the superior of a house and community in certain religious orders
the deputy head of a monastery or abbey, ranking immediately below the abbot
(formerly) a chief magistrate in medieval Florence and other Italian republics
First recorded in 1705–15; from Latin: “former, elder, superior” (adjective), “before” (adverb); akin to pre-, prime
First recorded before 1100; Middle English, late Old English, from Medieval Latin, Late Latin: “one superior in rank”; noun use of prior prior 1
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.
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“Evidence of stronger network utilization, accelerating industrial demand, or operating margin targets moving closer to prior peak levels would likely support a more favorable risk/reward profile.”
From Barron's • Jun. 2, 2026
Existing GitLab customers spent more than they did in the year prior, and the count of customers with more than $100,000 in annual recurring revenue increased 18%.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 2, 2026
That buyback replaces a prior authorization from March 2019, some two years before the company became the emblem of the meme-stock movement.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 2, 2026
Concerns were raised about his X activity prior to him being signed off in the November, but he continued posting while he was off work, despite being warned he was breaching the BBC's guidelines.
From BBC • Jun. 2, 2026
A few years prior, Mrs. Piatigorsky had been criticized in some quarters for not acceding to Fischer’s demands for the 1963 tournament, which had led to his not playing.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
