prior

See also Prior

English

Etymology

From Latin prior

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -aɪə(r)

Adjective

prior (not comparable)

1. Of that which comes before, in advance.

   I had no prior knowledge you were coming.

2. former, previous

   His prior residence was smaller than his current one.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:former

Derived terms

• prior to

Adverb

prior (comparative more prior, superlative most prior)

1. (colloquial) Previously.

   The doctor had known three months prior.

Noun

Wikipedia prior (plural priors)

1. A high-ranking member of a monastery, usually lower in rank than an abbot.
2. (law) A previous criminal offense on someone's record.
3. (statistics) In Bayesian inference, a prior probability distribution.

Translations

a high-ranking member of a monastery, usually lower in rank than an abbot

Czech: převor (cs) m. Finnish: priori (fi) French: prieur (fr) m. German: Prior (de) m.

Italian: priore (it) m. Polish: przeor (pl) m. Russian: приор (ru) (priór) m.

a previous criminal offense on someone's record

Chinese: 前科 Finnish: aiempi tuomio, aiempi rangaistus

German: Vorstrafe (de) f.

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Latin

Adjective

prior comparative, m./f. sing., third declension (superlative: prīmus)

1. former, previous, prior
2. in front
3. (figuratively) better, superior
4. (substantive, Medieval Latin) abbot, prior

Usage notes

There is no positive form of this adjective. It stems from the preposition pre. In the same way for post, one has posterior and postremus.

Inflection

• Third declension, comparative variation (3:COM).

Number	Singular			Plural
Case \ Gender	M.F.	N.		MM.FF.	NN.
nominative	prior	prius		priōrēs	priōra
genitive	priōris	priōris		priōrum	priōrum
dative	priōrī	priōrī		priōribus	priōribus
accusative	priōrem	prius		priōrēs	priōra
ablative	priōre	priōre		priōribus	priōribus
vocative	prior	prius		priōrēs	priōra

Related terms

• prīmus
• priōrēs

Descendants

• English: prior
• Italian: priore
• Romanian: prior
• Spanish: prior