precedence

C2+ Topic:Shopping & Services

US /ˈprɛsɪdəns/ UK /ˈprɛsɪdəns/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
priority in importance, order, or rank

Safety takes precedence over speed.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · priority in importance,... priority preferenceprecedencyseniority superiority preeminence

Opposites

subordination inferiority

Word family

Forms precedency

Related forms precede precedent preceding

Etymology

From precede + -ence, from Latin praecedere ('to go before'), from prae- ('before') + cedere ('to go').

praecedere Latin prae Latin cedere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Shopping & Services Word Formation & Derivatives

# precedence

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈprɛsɪdəns
**IPA (UK):** ˈprɛsɪdəns

## Meanings
1. priority in importance, order, or rank

## Examples
- Safety takes precedence over speed.

## Synonyms
- priority
- preference
- precedency
- seniority
- superiority
- preeminence

## Antonyms
- subordination
- inferiority

## Related Forms
- precede
- precedent
- preceding

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: praecedere
- Root: prae
- Root: cedere

## Etymology
From precede + -ence, from Latin praecedere ('to go before'), from prae- ('before') + cedere ('to go').

## AI Etymology
Precedence comes from precede + -ence, from Latin praecedere ('to go before'), from prae- ('before') + cedere ('to go'). The historical chain includes Latin praecedere, Latin prae, and Latin cedere. The quoted older senses, "to go before", "before", and "to go", supply the semantic anchors for precedence. The formation is best read as suffixal, compound, and borrowed: the word precedence carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "priority in importance, order, or rank". Related English forms include precede, precedent, and preceding. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Shopping & Services
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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