priority.

1. A rank or claim to attention ahead of other matters under the relevant ordering.

2. A matter judged to require attention or resources ahead of others.

3. A legal right or ranking to satisfaction ahead of competing claims.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• give priority to
• order of priority

On the page

The procedure gave priority to correcting errors that affected the central conclusion.

The order of priority changed when the immediate risk was resolved.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Singular priority; plural priorities. Also uncountable for ranking. 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.