priority
/prʌɪˈɒrɪti
/noun (plural priorities) [mass noun]
1The fact or condition of being regarded or treated as more important than others: the safety of the country takes priority over any other matter...
- Financing the country's energy is an absolute necessity and takes priority over all things.
- We do develop the local into good quality players but there comes a time when work takes priority over the game.
- European Community law is potentially more powerful, since it takes priority over domestic law.
Synonyms
prime concern, first concern, most important consideration, most pressing matter, matter of greatest importance, primary issue
precedence, greater importance, preference, precedency, pre-eminence, first/highest place, predominance, primacy, the lead, weighting, weight
1.1 [count noun] A thing that is regarded as more important than others: housework didn’t figure high on her list of priorities...
- As ever, humour was high on their list of priorities with this collection of one-act plays.
- People at the meeting said the two disagreed fundamentally on their priorities.
- We have to put ecological sanity and human rights at the top of our list of priorities.
1.2British The right to proceed before other traffic: priority is given to traffic already on the roundabout...
- The following two sections deal with bus lanes and traffic signal priority respectively.
- Give the bus priority over other traffic by fitting a musical klaxon, like the emergency services.
- Do taxis in Skipton have priority over all traffic?
Synonyms
right of way
Origin
Late Middle English (denoting precedence in time or rank): from Old French priorite, from medieval Latin prioritas, from Latin prior 'former' (see prior1).