priority

plural priorities

1. countableuncountableAn item's relative importance.

   He set his e-mail message's priority to high.

2. countableuncountableA goal of a person or an organisation.

   She needs to get her priorities straight and stop playing games.

3. countableuncountableThe quality of being earlier or coming first compared to another thing; the state of being prior.

   In bankruptcy law, a business' debt to its employees has priority over its debt to a landlord, so the employees must be paid first.

   1 more example

   But it's now platform extension work which will allow the station to handle LNER Azuma trains which needs to take priority, if a direct service to London King's Cross is to begin in 2021.

   2020 January 2, Graeme Pickering, “Fuelling the changes on Teesside rails”, in Rail, page 59

4. countableuncountablebiologyA superior claim to use by virtue of being validly published at an earlier date.

   Neither [Jones][…] nor I (in 1966) could conceive of reducing our "science" to the ultimate absurdity of reading Finnish newspapers almost a century and a half old in order to establish "priority."

   1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii

5. countableuncountablePrecedence; superior rank.

   Follow Cominius. We must follow you. / Right worthy you priority.

   1608, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Coriolanus, act 1, scene 1, line 244

   3 more examples

   Sozomen is not criticizing Constantine but rather asserting that bishops have priority over emperors, in case the readers might not have understood this […]

   1998, Mary Whitby, The Propaganda of Power: The Role of Panegyric in Late Antiquity, BRILL, →ISBN, page 308

   Who has priority, one's mother or one's wife? Question: To whom should a married man should give much preference, either his mother or wife?

   2007 November 1, Muhammad Saed Abdul-Rahman, Islam: Questions and Answers - Manners (Part 1), MSA Publication Limited, →ISBN, page 301

   The Holy Ghost is here and He has priority—remember that. The Holy Ghost has priority over your pastor, your church, your teachers—priority over every human thing. He is God, and being God, His voice has priority over all voices,[…]

   2010 January 1, A. W. Tozer, Tozer Speaks to Students: Chapel Messages Preached at Wheaton College, Moody Publishers, →ISBN

   Synonyms: dignity, eminence, seniority, superiority

6. countableuncountabletransportRight of way; The right to pass (an intersection) before other road users.