Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use prior in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, adverb, noun

Prior means coming before in order or time; earlier, former, previous. Example: “His prior residence was smaller than his current one.”

Examples of prior by meaning

adjectiveComing before in order or time; earlier, former, previous.

  • His prior residence was smaller than his current one.
  • I had no prior knowledge you were coming.

adverbChiefly followed by to: in advance, before, previously.

  • The doctor had known three months prior.

nounIn the rationalsphere: a belief supported by previous evidence or experience that one can use to make inferences about...

  • I'm checking each data point as it comes in against my priors.2022 July 29, Dan Roller, “Maran Partners Fund Q2 2022 Letter”, in Seeking Alpha, archived from the original on 08 Dec 2022
  • The votes are in, and our priors are confirmed.2022 November 8, Alex Shephard, “The Cards were always Stacked against Democrats”, in Michael Tomasky, editor, The New Republic, New York...

nounA 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

More sentences with prior

  • If you want to get a job, it helps to have some prior experience.From the entry help
  • He made an advance payment on the prior shipment to show good faith.From the entry advance
  • Tibet was a Buddhist theocracy ruled by the Dalai Lama prior to Chinese annexation.From the entry theocracy
  • The defendant was convicted because the prosecutor proved the defendant's prior knowledge of the victim's particular vulnerability.From the entry prior knowledge
  • All our policies require a declaration of no prior knowledge as a matter of routine.From the entry prior knowledge
  • The executive board dovetailed its decision neatly with the prior projects the company had taken up.From the entry dovetail
  • Mail is presorted by postcode prior to transfer into the postal delivery system.From the entry presort
  • Just prior to surgery the doctor will anesthetize him and he will sleep for four hours.From the entry anesthetize
  • This year's projections are above prior year actuals by five percent.From the entry actuals
  • An expanded access protocol allows patients to benefit from an investigational drug prior to FDA approval.From the entry investigational
  • My office is a safe place to talk about prior trauma.From the entry safe place
  • He'd drank alcohol prior to driving off the road.From the entry drank
  • Galveston was the jewel of Texas prior to the hurricane.From the entry jewel
  • The orator composed his speech over the week prior.From the entry compose
  • The painter's last opus was a dedication to all things living, in a surprising contrast to all of his prior work.From the entry opus
  • It used to be common practice to foam the runway prior to an emergency landing, in case a fuel-fed fire occurred.From the entry foam
  • The board of directors have decided to run down the stocks held in storage prior to offering the company for sale.From the entry run down
  • Prior to the U.S. Civil War, there were a number of northern periodicals devoted to publishing antislavery content.From the entry antislavery
  • In tennis, a foot fault results when server's foot is placed outside the service area prior to the ball being hit.From the entry foot fault
  • Test pittings were carried out prior to the main excavation.From the entry pitting
  • Slaughtered livestock is usually bled dry prior to butchering.From the entry bleed dry
  • I am not generally known for my peppiness prior to my first cup of coffee in the morning.From the entry peppiness
  • The boss made him do extra cleaning work, because he was caught dogging it on his prior assignment.From the entry dog it
  • Prior to the modern age, most human societies were communitarian.From the entry communitarian
  • On the morning of Sunday was fortnight before Christmas: on the morning of the Sunday that was two weeks before the Sunday prior to Christmas.From the entry be
  • How can I update my priors?From the entry update
  • In kerolox engines, some of the fuel flow cokes in the engine's cooling passages over time, requiring thorough cleaning prior to reuse.From the entry coke
  • Prior to the photoceramic portrait, miniature paintings were all the rage.2021 February 2, Brynn, “What Are Photoceramic Portraits?”, in Coyle Studios. From the entry photoceramic
  • There is no mention of the goddess Antu in texts from Uruk prior to the first millennium.2021 November 8, Paul-Alain Beaulieu, The Pantheon of Uruk During the Neo-Babylonian Period, BRILL, →ISBN, page 310. From the entry Antu
  • Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Wall taught karate at a local nursing home.2020 June 10, Ashley Vaughan, “This teenage martial artist creates videos to help superhero seniors stay active while in quarantine”, in…. From the entry karate
  • She spent a great deal of time looking at the map prior to stepping into the clearing.2020 February 14, Black Lyte [pseudonym], “A Gift of Savagery”, in Don’t F*ck with the Healer! (Vanta Fantasies; 2), ASIN B084TS14PL. From the entry newbish
  • Inherent in comprehension of text is experience, culture and prior knowledge.2020 August 5, Jacqueline CoxTaylor, “Strategy Technique”, in Seeing What Is: The Education Challenges for Teachers and Their Students…. From the entry construation
  • Whereas the female invests heavily in the wake of conception, the male invests heavily prior to conception.2019, Steve Paul Moxon, “The Sexes Serve to Purge Mutations by Selection on Males, Boosting the Function of Sex to Maintain Genomic…. From the entry foil
  • Alternatively, we can use prior predictives to help define prior distributions.2018, Simon Farrell, Stephan Lewandowsky, Computational Modeling of Cognition and Behavior, page 308. From the entry predictive

Meaning of prior

  1. adjective Coming before in order or time; earlier, former, previous.
  2. adjective More important or significant.
  3. adjective Chiefly in prior probability: of the probability of an event: determined without knowledge of the occurrence of other events that bear on it, before additional data is collected.

Full definition of prior

Questions about prior in a sentence

How do you use prior in a sentence?
Prior is used as an adjective, adverb and noun. For example: “His prior residence was smaller than his current one.”
What is a short sentence with prior?
“How can I update my priors?”
What does prior mean?
Prior means coming before in order or time; earlier, former, previous.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: prior (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use prior in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/prior. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.