precedence

1. 1.

   status established in order of importance or urgency

   “...its precedence as the world's leading manufacturer of pharmaceuticals”

   “national independence takes priority over class struggle”

   Synonymsprecedencypriority

   Broaderhigh status

   Narrowerback burnerfront burner
2. 2.

   preceding in time

   Synonymspriorityantecedenceantecedencyanteriorityprecedency

   Broaderearliness
3. 3.

   the act of preceding in time or order or rank (as in a ceremony)

   Synonymsprecessionprecedency

   Broaderactivity

Other forms of precedence

plural

precedences·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about precedence

What does precedence mean?

precedence means "status established in order of importance or urgency". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in precedence?

precedence has 3 syllables: prec-e-dence. The stress falls on "prec". In IPA it is /ˈpɹɛsədəns/.

What is another word for precedence?

Close synonyms include precedency, priority, priority, antecedence, antecedency. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is precedence a common word?

precedence is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.