Definition of "prior" []

• Preceding in time or order: "[They] insist that foreign vessels seeking access obtain prior approval” ( Seymour M. Hersh). (adjective)
• Preceding in importance or value: a prior consideration. (adjective)
• A monastic officer in charge of a priory or ranking next below the abbot of an abbey. (noun)
• One of the ruling magistrates of the medieval Italian republic of Florence. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The term 'prior express consent' means the oral or written approval of a person..."
• "Nobody had used the term prior to that apart from the Romans who invented it 2000 years earlier."
• "The prior bore the title prior ecclesia S. Maria de Metro."