precedence.

A position before others in time, rank, importance or a specified ordering.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• take precedence
• order of precedence

On the page

The immediate obligation took precedence over the optional revision.

The order of precedence was stated before the competing requests were considered.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: criterion analysis, relative importance, potential and actual distinction, evidence interpretation. Disciplines: academic writing, institutional analysis, research and conceptual explanation. Commonness: moderately common.