prior

prior

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of prior in English

English Online Dictionary. What means prior‎? What does prior mean?

English

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpɹaɪ.ə/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɹaɪ.(ə)ɹ/
  • Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
  • Hyphenation: pri‧or

Etymology 1

The 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.

Adjective

prior (not comparable)

  1. Coming before in order or time; earlier, former, previous.
    Synonyms: advance, antecedent, anterior; see also Thesaurus:former
  2. More important or significant.
  3. (Bayesian statistics) Chiefly 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.
    Antonym: posterior
Usage notes
  • Etymologically, the antonym of prior is ulterior (“happening later, subsequent”) (compare primate (“earliest, first”) (obsolete) and ultimate (“final, last”)). However, as this word is regarded as archaic, typically either posterior or subsequent is used as an antonym, though they are more formal than prior, and are etymological antonyms with other words—anterior and precedent, respectively.
  • If an opposing pair of words is desired, instead of prior, former (antonym: latter) or previous (antonym: next) can be used.
Derived terms
Related terms
  • a priori
  • priority
Translations

Adverb

prior (comparative more prior, superlative most prior)

  1. Chiefly followed by to: in advance, before, previously.
    Synonyms: ago, hitherto
Translations

Noun

prior (plural priors)

  1. (Bayesian statistics) 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. [from 20th c.]
    Antonym: posterior
    1. (by extension) In the rationalsphere: a belief supported by previous evidence or experience that one can use to make inferences about the future.
  2. (Canada, US, law enforcement, chiefly in the plural) A previous arrest or criminal conviction on someone's criminal record. [from 19th c.]
    Synonym: antecedent
Derived terms
  • revise one's priors
  • update one's priors
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English priour, prior (“head or deputy head of a monastery or other religious house; predecessor; superior”), from Old English prior, from Anglo-Norman priour, prior, priur, and Old French prior, priur (modern French prieur), and directly from their etymon Latin prior (“ancestor; predecessor”) (whence Late Latin prior (“superior of a religious house or order; abbot; deputy abbot; head of a guild”)), a noun use of prior (“former, previous, prior”, adjective): see etymology 1.

Noun

prior (plural priors)

  1. (Christianity) A high-ranking member of a religious house or religious order.
    1. In an abbey, the person ranking just after the abbot, appointed as his deputy; a prior claustral.
      (abbot’s deputy): Synonyms: dean, provost
    2. 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.
      Coordinate term: prioress
    3. The head friar of a house of friars.
    4. The head of the Arrouaisian, Augustinian, and formerly Premonstratensian religious orders.
    5. An honorary position held by a priest in some cathedrals.
  2. (historical)
    1. A chief magistrate of the Republic of Florence (1115–1569) in what is now Italy.
    2. The elected head of a guild of craftsmen or merchants in some countries in Europe and South America.
  3. (obsolete)
    1. A person who is the earliest or most prominent in a field; the chief.
    2. (business) The head of a company.
Alternative forms
  • priour (obsolete)
Derived terms
Related terms
  • priory
Translations

References

Further reading

  • prior convictions on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • prior (ecclesiastical) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • prior probability on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • prior (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin priōrem.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (Central, Balearic) [pɾiˈo]
  • IPA(key): (Valencia) [pɾiˈoɾ]

Noun

prior m (plural priors, feminine priora)

  1. prior (a high-ranking member of a monastery)

Related terms

  • priorat
  • prioritat

Further reading

  • “prior”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
  • “prior”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
  • “prior” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
  • “prior” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *priōs, from earlier *prijōs, from *pri + *-jōs, thus the comparative degree of Old Latin *pri (“before”), from Proto-Italic *pri from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“beyond”), *pró (“before”).

Pronunciation

  • (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈpri.ɔr]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈpriː.or]

Adjective

prior (comparative, neuter prius, no positive form, superlative prīmus); third declension

  1. former, prior, previous, earlier (preceding in time)
    priore anno ― the year before, the previous year; during the year before
    priore aestate ― the previous summer
    priore nocte ― the previous night
  2. the first, the original
  3. in front
  4. (figuratively) better, superior
  5. (substantive, Medieval Latin) abbot, prior

Usage notes

  • This adjective has no positive form; rather, it serves as the comparative (prior) and superlative (prīmus) of the preposition prae. (Compare the preposition post, with comparative posterior and superlative postremus).

Declension

  • Third-declension comparative adjective.

Derived terms

  • ā priōrī
  • priōrēs
  • prius
  • priusquam

Related terms

  • prīmus

Descendants

  • → Catalan: prior
  • → Czech: převor
  • → Dutch: prior
  • → English: prior
  • → Finnish: priori
  • → French: prieur
  • → Irish: prióir
  • → Galician: prior
  • → Italian: priore
  • → Middle High German: prior
    • German: Prior
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: priori
  • → Polish: przeor
  • → Romanian: prior
  • → Russian: приор (prior)
  • → Spanish: prior
  • → Portuguese: prior

References

  • “prior”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “prior”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • "prior", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • prior in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[4], London: Macmillan and Co.

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin prior.

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: pri‧or

Noun

prior m (plural priores, feminine priora or prioresa, feminine plural prioras or prioresas)

  1. (Catholicism) prior (superior of a religious or military order.)

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

  • “prior”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
  • “prior”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
  • prior on the Portuguese Wikipedia.Wikipedia pt

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin prior.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈpɾjoɾ/ [ˈpɾjoɾ]
  • Rhymes: -oɾ
  • Syllabification: prior

Noun

prior m (plural priores, feminine priora, feminine plural prioras)

  1. prior (a high-ranking member of a monastery)

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

  • “prior”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.