priors

Noun (1)

prior (plural priors)

1. (Bayesian statistics) A prior probability distribution, that is, one determined without knowledge of the occurrence of other events that bear on it, before additional data is collected.

   Antonyms:

   posterior

   1. (broadly, Bayesian statistics) In the rationalsphere: a belief supported by previous evidence or experience that one can use to make inferences about the future.
      • During each of these touchpoints, I'm asking myself where and how my thesis on each holding could be wrong. I'm checking each data point as it comes in against my priors. I'm comparing management behavior to what I would be doing if I were in their shoes.2022 July 29, Dan Roller, “Maran Partners Fund Q2 2022 Letter”, in Seeking Alpha, archived from the original on 08 Dec 2022
2. (Canada, US, in plural) A previous arrest or criminal conviction on someone's criminal record.
   • And a little later we get the routine report on his prints from Washington, and he's got a prior back in Indiana, attempted hold-up six years ago.1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published 1966, →OCLC, page 47

   Synonyms:

   antecedent

Noun (2)

prior (plural priors)

1. In an abbey, the person ranking just after the abbot, appointed as his deputy; a prior claustral.
   • It is not yet an hundred yere a goe, ſince that ſame mayſter doctour was butler in the ſame houſe, whereof I was maiſter and praiour: […]1532, Thomas More, “The Confutacion of [William] Tyndale’s Aunswere […]. The Eyght Booke in which is Confuted Doctour [Robert] Barnes Church.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The...

   Synonyms:

   dean, provost

2. The head of a priory (“a monastery which is usually a branch of an abbey”), or some other minor or smaller monastery; a prior conventual.
3. The head friar of a house of friars.

See all 18 meanings of prior