precedencepre‧ce‧dence /ˈpresɪdəns/ AWL noun [uncountable] 
Do we want a society where appearance takes precedence over skill or virtue? Guests were seated in order of precedence. Safety must be given precedence.
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
- But for those most concerned, other issues have taken precedence.
- California law allows residents to carry the spray, and city officials said state law would take precedence.
- If not, should precedence be given to new inputs or to the accumulated current state?
- If the total resources are insufficient to meet all needs then how does one choose the needs that should take precedence?
- The biological fact of her femininity took precedence over serious critical evaluations of her work.
- This possibility of precedence confusion can be dealt with as follows.
- Ultimately, the democratic process may take precedence over democracy itself.
- Where the two aims were in conflict, the former was to take precedence.
Longman Language Activatormost important
· This was possibly the most important scientific discovery of the 20th century.· For Muslims, this is the most important day of the year.· If there is a fire, the most important thing is to get all the students out of the building immediately.
the most important thing, which needs to be dealt with before anything else or given more attention than anything else: · First, let's decide what our priorities are.· My main priority is get through all my exams.first/top/number one priority: · Safety has always been our number one priority.give priority to something (=decide that something is very important, and deal with it urgently): · The President promised to give priority to reducing unemployment.
something that is urgent must be dealt with or done as soon as possible, especially because something very bad could happen if it is not: · I've got one or two urgent letters to write.· Your sister's been calling -- I think it's urgent.· An international effort is required to cope with the urgent needs of the earthquake victims.
to be the most important and urgent of all the things that have to be done, especially by a government or company: · Getting inflation down is at the top of the agenda.· The government were reluctant to put equal pay for women anywhere near the top of the agenda.
if someone or something takes precedence over someone or something else, they are more important and need to be dealt with first: · Don't keep Mr Rawlings waiting, he takes precedence over any other client.· Once again, the leader's wishes have taken precedence over the students' demands.
: overriding need/concern/consideration etc the thing that is most important and must be dealt with before anything else: · The overriding need here is to end the civil war.· an overriding concern to secure business efficiency
more important than anything else: · The patients' wishes and needs are paramount and they must always come before our own.· While some musical ability is necessary, it is not the paramount concern.of paramount importance: · Public safety and security are matters of paramount importance.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Do we want a society where appearance takes precedence over skill or virtue? Guests were seated in order of precedence. Safety must be given precedence.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSVERB
when someone or something is considered to be more important than someone or something else, and therefore comes first or must be dealt with first SYN priorityprecedence over Do we want a society where appearance takes precedence over skill or virtue? Guests were seated in order of precedence. Safety must be given precedence.· Where the foot passenger steps on to the limits before the vehicle reaches them, the driver must accord precedence.
· The practical effect is that that gives them precedence of speaking in Parliament.· A decision obviously had to be made as to which of these missions should be given precedence.· Moreover, children gave precedence to the matching rule in situations where it conflicted with another rule.· The citation order now gives precedence to processes, such as circulation control and cataloguing, rather than to types of libraries. 6.· This has usually meant giving precedence to private sector economic growth rather than other priorities such as social welfare.
· Defining abuse can allow the relative power of the carer to take precedence over the plight of the older person.· Should stability take precedence over personal freedoms?· This is because of his obsession with golf and how it takes precedence over everything else.· California law allows residents to carry the spray, and city officials said state law would take precedence.· If there is conflict the Companies Act takes precedence.· Statute takes precedence over contract and other legal obligations.· Husbands are usually higher earners than their wives and their jobs or carers take precedence over those of women.· Males were above females and age took precedence over youth.
Do we want a society where appearance takes precedence over skill or virtue? Guests were seated in order of precedence. Safety must be given precedence.