Prior

Adjective

 * 1) Of that which comes before, in advance.
 * I had no prior knowledge you were coming.
 * 1) former, previous
 * His prior residence was smaller than his current one.

Synonyms

 * See also Thesaurus:former

Derived terms

 * prior to

Adverb

 * 1)  Previously.
 * The doctor had known three months prior.

Noun

 * 1) A high-ranking member of a monastery, usually lower in rank than an abbot.
 * 2)  A previous criminal offense on someone's record.
 * 3)  In Bayesian inference, a prior probability distribution.

Thesaurus
ahead, ancient, antecedent, anterior, anticipatory, before, chief, ci-devant, earlier, early, elder, erstwhile, ex, exordial, first, fore, foregoing, foremost, former, forward, heading, headmost, immemorial, inaugural, initiatory, last, late, latest, leading, old, olden, older, once, onetime, past, precedent, preceding, precessional, precurrent, precursory, preexistent, prefatory, prehistoric, preliminary, preludial, prelusive, preparatory, prevenient, previous, previous to, prime, primeval, primitive, prior to, proemial, propaedeutic, quondam, recent, senior, sometime, then, till, until, whilom

Etymology
From prior:

Noun

 * Czech:
 * Finnish:
 * French: prieur
 * German:


 * Italian:
 * Polish:
 * Russian: приор


 * Chinese: 前科
 * Finnish: aiempi tuomio, aiempi rangaistus


 * German:

Adjective
prior ''comparative, m./f. sing., third declension (superlative'': prīmus)


 * 1) former, previous, prior
 * 2) in front
 * 3)  better, superior
 * 4)  abbot, prior

Related terms

 * prīmus
 * priōrēs