priority

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   An item's relative importance.

   He set his e-mail message's priority to high.

2. 2
   noun

   A goal of a person or an organisation.

   She needs to get her priorities straight and stop playing games.

3. 3
   noun

   The quality of being earlier or coming first compared to another thing; the state of being prior.

   In bankruptcy law, a business' debt to its employees has priority over its debt to a landlord, so the employees must be paid first.

4. 4
   noun

   A superior claim to use by virtue of being validly published at an earlier date.

   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."

5. 5
   noun

   Precedence; superior rank.

   Follow Cominius. We must follow you. / Right worthy you priority.

6. 6
   noun

   preceding in time

7. 7
   noun

   status established in order of importance or urgency

8. 8
   noun

   Right of way; The right to pass (an intersection) before other road users.

Etymology

From Old French priorite, from Latin priōritās. Surface analysis: prior + -ity.