prior

CEFRC1

/ˈpɹaɪ.ə/

adjective · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Existing or happening before a particular time or event.

  2. 02

    noun

    A person in charge of a religious house in some orders.

Examples

  • Prior to the meeting, they had dinner.

  • Some prior knowledge of statistics is desirable.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈpɹɑe.ə/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. 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.

  2. More important or significant.

  3. Coming before in order or time; earlier, former, previous.

More examples

In context

  • This happened prior to receiving your letter.

  • His prior residence was smaller than his current one.

  • I had no prior knowledge you were coming.

Synonyms

Antonyms

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Nearby

Origin

adjective

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.