PRIORITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does priority mean? 

• PRIORITY (noun)
  The noun PRIORITY has 2 senses:

1. status established in order of importance or urgency

2. preceding in time

  Familiarity information: PRIORITY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRIORITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Status established in order of importance or urgency

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

precedence; precedency; priority

Context example:

national independence takes priority over class struggle

Hypernyms ("priority" is a kind of...):

high status (a position of superior status)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "priority"):

back burner (reduced priority)

front burner (top priority)

Derivation:

prioritize (assign a priority to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Preceding in time

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

antecedence; antecedency; anteriority; precedence; precedency; priority

Hypernyms ("priority" is a kind of...):

earliness (quality of coming early or earlier in time)

Antonym:

posteriority (following in time)

Derivation:

prior (earlier in time)

prioritize (assign a priority to)

 Context examples 

Priority is given to the bonded atom with the higher atomic number.

(E-Z Notation, NCI Thesaurus)

In many ways, the spirit of the season is brighter this month, for career matters were your first priority on your list to address.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Terminology associated with the priority of tuberculosis contact codelist of the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) Standard Data Tabulation Model (SDTM).

(CDISC SDTM Priority of Tuberculosis Contact Terminology, NCI Thesaurus)

"We sequenced the genomes of 31 plants to discover high-priority candidate disease-resistance genes," Guiltinan said.

(New way to identify disease-resistant genes in chocolate-producing trees, National Science Foundation)

Will this issue remain a priority, or should I say will it become a top priority?

(Health threats caused by mobile phone radiation, EUROPARL TV)

Many current treatments for neurodegenerative conditions actually aim to enhance cell clearance, which may worsen rather than improve neurodegenerative symptoms, making the need for new treatment strategies an urgent priority.

(New Mechanisms Found of Cell Death in Neurodegenerative Disorders, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Chirality axis based stereochemistry where, using the Cahn-Ingold-Prelog (CIP) priority rules, the priorities (from highest to lowest) of the substituent atoms exist in a counterclockwise direction.

(Axial S, NCI Thesaurus)

The models they create help guide future cancer control strategies, research priorities, policies, and decision making.

(Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network, NCI Dictionary)

Function: Provide a national scientific forum to identify research opportunities and to provide recommendations on research priorities, resource needs, and how best to address them across the range of issues in AIDS-related malignancies.

(AIDS-Related Malignancies Working Group, NCI Thesaurus)

With its solar panels their cleanest in years, NASA's decade-old Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is inspecting a section of crater-rim ridgeline chosen as a priority target due to evidence of a water-related mineral.

(Aluminum-Bearing Site on Mars Draws NASA Visitor, NASA)