Priority Meaning
/pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounAn item's relative importance.
nounA goal of a person or an organisation.
Sentence Examples
We have given your order highest priority.
This duty has priority over all others.
Job creation needs to be the top priority.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
For the rescue team, finding survivors was their top ____ during the disaster.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Reducing carbon emissions must be the government's top ____ in the coming decade.
Word Origin & History
From Old French priorite, from Latin priōritās. Surface analysis: prior + -ity.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"But it's now platform extension work which will allow the station to handle LNER Azuma trains which needs to take priority, if a direct service to London King's Cross is to begin in 2021."
— 2020 January 2, Graeme Pickering, “Fuelling the changes on Teesside rails”, in Rail, page 59:
"Neither [Jones][…] nor I (in 1966) could conceive of reducing our "science" to the ultimate absurdity of reading Finnish newspapers almost a century and a half old in order to establish "priority.""
— 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii:
"Follow Cominius. We must follow you. / Right worthy you priority."
— 1608, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Coriolanus, act 1, scene 1, line 244:
"Sozomen is not criticizing Constantine but rather asserting that bishops have priority over emperors, in case the readers might not have understood this […]"
— 1998, Mary Whitby, The Propaganda of Power: The Role of Panegyric in Late Antiquity, BRILL, →ISBN, page 308:
"Who has priority, one's mother or one's wife? Question: To whom should a married man should give much preference, either his mother or wife?"
— 2007 November 1, Muhammad Saed Abdul-Rahman, Islam: Questions and Answers - Manners (Part 1), MSA Publication Limited, →ISBN, page 301:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
For the rescue team, finding survivors was their top ____ during the disaster.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Reducing carbon emissions must be the government's top ____ in the coming decade.