prior

• priour (obsolete)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪ.ə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪ.ɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

From Latin prior, comparative of Old Latin *pri (“before”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“beyond”), *pró (“before”). Parallel to English former, as comparative form from same Proto-Indo-European root, whence also fore (thence before).

prior (not comparable)

1. Advance; previous; coming before.

   I had no prior knowledge you were coming.

2. Former, previous.

   His prior residence was smaller than his current one.

• The etymological antonym is ulterior (from Latin; compare primate/ultimate for “first/last”). This is now no longer used, however, and there is no corresponding antonym. Typically either subsequent or posterior is used, but these form different pairs – precedent/subsequent and anterior/posterior – and are more formal than prior. When an opposing pair is needed, these can be used, or other pairs such as former/latter or previous/next.

• anterior
• See also Thesaurus:former

• posterior

• priority

prior (comparative more prior, superlative most prior)

1. (colloquial) Previously.

   Synonyms: ago, hitherto

   The doctor had known three months prior.

   • 2019 April 14, Alex McLevy, “Winter is Here on Game of Thrones’ Final Season Premiere (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 18 December 2020:

     From the opening shots of the anonymous young Winterfell boy rushing to catch a glimpse of Jon Snow and Queen Daenerys Targaryen, hearkening back to those moments of the very first episode in which Arya rushed to do the same with an approaching King Robert Baratheon, the series is calling back to its beginning, suggesting (at least for now) that the wheel continues to turn, sending us back into a pattern begun seven seasons prior.

prior (plural priors)

1. (US, law enforcement) A previous arrest or criminal conviction on someone's record. [from 19th c.]
   • 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 53:

     ‘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. (statistics, Bayesian inference) A prior probability distribution, one based on information or belief before additional data is collected. [from 20th c.]

   Coordinate term: posterior

3. (rationalist community, by extension) A belief supported by previous evidence or experience that one can use to make inferences about the future.
   • 2022 July 29, “Maran Partners Fund Q2 2022 Letter”, in Seeking Alpha‎:

     During each of these touchpoints, I'm asking myself where and how my thesis on each holding could be wrong. I'm checking each data point as it comes in against my priors. I'm comparing management behavior to what I would be doing if I were in their shoes.

   • 2022 November 8, Alex Shephard, “The Cards Were Always Stacked Against Democrats”, in New Republic‎:

     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.

   • 2022 December 6, David Harsanyi, “Why Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ Matter”, in The Federalist‎:

     Mostly because the evidence confirms all my priors.

• update one's priors
• revise one's priors

From Middle English priour, prior, from Old English prior, Old French prior, and their etymon Latin prior.

prior (plural priors)

1. A high-ranking member of a monastery, usually lower in rank than an abbot.
2. (historical) A chief magistrate in Italy.

• (second-in-command to an abbot): provost

• priory

• “prior”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Borrowed from Latin priōrem.

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

prior m (plural priors, feminine priora)

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

• priorat
• prioritat

• “prior” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “prior”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “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.

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”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpri.or/, [ˈpriɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpri.or/, [ˈpriːor]

prior (neuter prius, superlative prīmus); third-declension comparative adjective

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

   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 26.1:

     Q. Fuluio Ap. Claudio, prioris anni consulibus, prorogatum imperium est atque exercitus quos habebant decreti, adiectumque ne a Capua quam obsidebant abscederent priusquam expugnassent.

     The military authority of Quintus Fulvius and Appius Claudius, consuls of the previous year, was extended and the armies which they had were decided upon, and it was added as a proviso that they should not withdraw from Capua, which they were besieging, until they conquered it.

2. the first, the original
3. in front
4. (figuratively) better, superior
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.321–323:

     “[...] tē propter eundem / exstīnctus pudor et, quā sōlā sīdera adībam, / fāma prior. [...]”

     “Likewise, because of you, my sense of honor is gone, and a better reputation which was my only way to the stars.”
     (As a widow, Dido's chastity and devotion to the memory of her first husband would have been well-regarded in Augustan Rome.)

5. (substantive, Medieval Latin) abbot, prior

• 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).

lacks abl.sg. in -i, cp. [[a priori]] and e.g. [https://archive.org/details/allengreenoughsn00alleiala/page/52/mode/2up Allen & Greenough] & [https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=priori etymonline.com]

• Third-declension comparative adjective.

• ā priōrī
• priōrēs
• prius
• priusquam

• prīmus

• → 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

• “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, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • last year: superiore, priore anno
    
  • (ambiguous) there is nothing I am more interested in than..: nihil antiquius or prius habeo quam ut (nihil mihi antiquius or potius est, quam ut)
    

From Latin prior.

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

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

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

• “prior”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014