priority

priority — noun

1. a task, issue, or goal that you choose to address ahead of other possible things

1.nounB2
Definition

a task, issue, or goal that you choose to address ahead of other possible things because it matters most to you at that moment.

Example

Setting up the new nursery is the team's top priority right now.

collocation: top priority

The hospital gives priority to patients with the most serious injuries.

pattern: give priority to [someone/something]

Common collocations
  • top priority
  • high priority
  • first priority
  • low priority
  • give priority to
  • take priority over
  • set priorities
  • list of priorities
Synonyms
  • precedence

    more formal; stresses being first in order, rank, or time rather than importance (e.g., royal protocol gives precedence to the eldest child)

  • urgency

    focuses on time-pressure rather than relative importance; something urgent may not be important long-term

  • importance

    broader term for significance; does not carry the idea of sequential handling that priority implies

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

[adjective] priority

give priority to [someone/something]

take priority over [someone/something]

[possessive] priorities

Usage Note

Can be countable when referring to specific items (a priority, several priorities), or uncountable when referring to the concept of preferred treatment or order (priority, without an article). The uncountable form is common in institutional contexts such as give priority to.

Common Mistakes

This is a priority thing for me.
This is a priority for me.
Priority is already a noun; adding thing is redundant and ungrammatical.
I have a priority to finish my homework.
Finishing my homework is a priority for me.
Priority names what matters most, not an obligation or duty.

Word family

  • prior
    adjectiveB2
  • prioritize
    verbB2
  • prioritization
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Priority, precedence, urgency, and importance all relate to what matters, but they differ in focus. Priority is the broadest learner-friendly term: it means you have chosen something as most important among competing options and will handle it first. Precedence is more formal and suggests a fixed rule or tradition that puts one thing before another — in court, constitutional law takes precedence over local regulations. Urgency focuses on time pressure: an urgent email needs a reply today, even if it is not very important in the long run. Importance is the broadest of the four: it simply means something carries significance, without saying anything about order or deadlines. You might say "Finding a job is important, but paying off debt is my top priority." Choosing the right word depends on whether you want to emphasize order (priority / precedence), time pressure (urgency), or general significance (importance).

priority ↗precedence ↗urgencyimportance ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • give priority to
  • take priority over
  • set priorities
  • identify priorities
  • list of priorities

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinAnglo-NormanEnglish

Arrives in English from Latin prior, meaning 'former' or 'earlier', via Anglo-Norman priorite. The sense of 'something coming first in importance' developed in the 1400s, originally in legal and ecclesiastical contexts before broadening into everyday use by the 1800s.