PRIOR definition: 1. existing or happening before something else, or before a particular time: 2. before a…. Learn more.

previous and prior imply existing or occurring earlier, but prior often adds an implication of greater importance.

PRIOR definition: preceding in time or in order; earlier or former; previous. See examples of prior used in a sentence.

Usage Note: Though prior usually modifies a noun that comes after it, as in prior approval, it sometimes modifies a noun for a unit of time which precedes it, as in five years prior.

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.

There are six meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun prior, two of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

Dec 26, 2025 · 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 …

In this post, I will compare prior vs. previous. I will use each of these words in several example sentences, to give you an idea of how they should appear in context.

An informative prior expresses specific, definite information about a variable. An example is a prior distribution for the temperature at noon tomorrow. A reasonable approach is to make the …

Some common synonyms of prior are antecedent, anterior, foregoing, former, preceding, and previous. While all these words mean "being before," previous and prior imply existing or …