Adjacent Words

Prior definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PRI'OR, a. [L. comp. Probably the first syllable is contracted from pris, prid, or some other word, for the Latin has prisce, pristinus.]
Preceding in the order of time; former; antecedent; anterior; as a prior discovery; prior obligation. The discovery of the continent of American by Cabot was six or seven weeks prior to the discovery of it by Columbus. The discovery of the Labrador coast by Cabot was on the 11th of June, 1499; that of the continent by Columbus, was on the first of August of the same year.
PRI'OR, n. [L. prior.]
1. The superior of a convent of monks, or one next in dignity to an abbot. Priors are claustral or conventical. The conventical are the same as abbots. A claustral prior is one that governs the religious of an abbey or priory in commendam, having his jurisdiction wholly from the abbot.
2. In some churches, one who presides over others in the same churches.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: earlier in time [syn: anterior, prior] n
1: the head of a religious order; in an abbey the prior is next below the abbot

Merriam Webster's

biographical name Matthew 1664-1721 English poet

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English & Anglo-French; both from Medieval Latin, from Late Latin, administrator, from Latin, former, superior Date: before 12th century 1. the superior ranking next to the abbot of a monastery 2. the superior of a house or group of houses of any of various religious communities • priorate noun • priorship noun II. adjective Etymology: Latin, former, superior; akin to Latin priscus ancient, prae before — more at for Date: 1709 1. earlier in time or order ; previous <by prior agreement> 2. taking precedence (as in importance) Synonyms: see preceding • priorly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj., adv., & n. --adj. 1 earlier. 2 (often foll. by to) coming before in time, order, or importance. --adv. (foll. by to) before (decided prior to their arrival). --n. 1 the superior officer of a religious house or order. 2 (in an abbey) the officer next under the abbot. Derivatives: priorate n. prioress n. priorship n. Etymology: L, = former, elder, compar. of OL pri = L prae before

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prior Pri"or, a. First, precedent, or superior in the order of cognition, reason or generality, origin, development, rank, etc.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prior Pri"or, a. [L. prior former, previous, better, superior; compar. corresponding to primus first, and pro for. See Former, and cf. Prime, a., and Pre-, Pro-.] Preceding in the order of time; former; antecedent; anterior; previous; as, a prior discovery; prior obligation; -- used elliptically in cases like the following: he lived alone [in the time] prior to his marriage.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prior Pri"or, n. [OE. priour, OF. priour, prior, priur, F. prieur, from L. prior former, superior. See Prior, a.] (Eccl.) The superior of a priory, and next below an abbot in dignity. Conventical, or Conventual, prior, a prior who is at the head of his own house. See the Note under Priory. Claustral prior, an official next in rank to the abbot in a monastery; prior of the cloisters.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prior Pri"or, n. [OE. priour, OF. priour, prior, priur, F. prieur, from L. prior former, superior. See Prior, a.] (Eccl.) The superior of a priory, and next below an abbot in dignity. Conventical, or Conventual, prior, a prior who is at the head of his own house. See the Note under Priory. Claustral prior, an official next in rank to the abbot in a monastery; prior of the cloisters.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. You use prior to indicate that something has already happened, or must happen, before another event takes place. He claimed he had no prior knowledge of the protest... The Constitution requires the president to seek the prior approval of Congress for military action... ADJ: ADJ n 2. A prior claim or duty is more important than other claims or duties and needs to be dealt with first. The firm I wanted to use had prior commitments. ADJ: ADJ n 3. A prior is a monk who is in charge of a priory or a monk who is the second most important person in a monastery. N-COUNT; N-TITLE 4. If something happens prior to a particular time or event, it happens before that time or event. (FORMAL) Prior to his Japan trip, he went to New York... PREP-PHRASE

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Former, preceding, earlier, previous, anterior, antecedent, precedent, foregoing, precursory.

Moby Thesaurus

ahead, ancient, antecedent, anterior, anticipatory, before, chief, ci-devant, earlier, early, elder, erstwhile, ex, exordial, first, fore, foregoing, foremost, former, forward, heading, headmost, immemorial, inaugural, initiatory, last, late, latest, leading, old, olden, older, once, onetime, past, precedent, preceding, precessional, precurrent, precursory, preexistent, prefatory, prehistoric, preliminary, preludial, prelusive, preparatory, prevenient, previous, previous to, prime, primeval, primitive, prior to, proemial, propaedeutic, quondam, recent, senior, sometime, then, till, until, whilom