prior
Forms
- Comparative
- more prior
- Superlative
- most prior
- Plural
- priors
Definitions
1.Coming before in order or time; earlier, former, previous.
- I had no prior knowledge you were coming.
- His prior residence was smaller than his current one.
- Lady Marney, duly warned of the impending catastrophe, was experiencing all the advantages of prior information.
2.More important or significant.
3.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.
1.Chiefly followed by to: in advance, before, previously.
- The doctor had known three months prior.
1.A 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.
2.A high-ranking member of a religious house or religious order.
3.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.
- 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.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2551
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Word family
Etymology
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.