prior
prior Lexical Profile
prior Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Existing or coming before in time, order, or arrangement.
"Applicants must have at least two years of prior experience in software development."
Taking precedence in importance, urgency, or legal right.
"The senior creditor holds a prior claim on the company's liquidated assets."
Relating to or denoting a probability distribution that represents existing beliefs before new evidence is taken into account (in Bayesian statistics).
"The researchers updated their prior assumptions after analyzing the clinical trial data."
• noun
American A previous criminal arrest or conviction on a person's legal record (informal).
"Because the defendant had no priors, the judge agreed to a lenient sentence of community service."
The superior officer of a priory, or a monastic official ranking immediately below an abbot in an abbey.
"The prior welcomed the visiting scholars to the medieval monastery's library."
A prior probability distribution, or an existing assumption held before evaluating new evidence (in Bayesian statistics and formal reasoning).
"When new empirical evidence emerges, scientists must be willing to revise their priors."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse 'prior' (meaning earlier or a monastic superior) with its homophone 'prier' (one who pries into others' affairs). In formal writing, 'prior to' is often used as a complex preposition meaning 'before'.
• Rhymes for prior
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
As a religious title, the word entered Old English from Late Latin 'prior' (superior or ancestor); as an adjective meaning 'earlier', it was borrowed directly in the early 18th century from Latin 'prior' (former, previous, or first), the comparative form of an Old Latin root meaning 'before'.