Meaning of priority In English

• 0 something that is very important and must be dealt with before other things:

  • The management did not seem to consider office safety to be a priority.

  • My first/top priority is to find somewhere to live.

  • You have to learn to get your priorities right/straight (= decide which are the most important jobs or problems and deal with them first).

  • Repairing the plumbing is a priority task (= more important than other jobs).

  • Banks normally give priority to large businesses when deciding on loans (= they deal with them first because they consider them most important).

  • Official business requirements obviously take/have priority over personal requests (= official business matters will be dealt with first).

• 1 something that is considered more important than other matters:

  • [ C ] The president vowed to make education one of his top priorities.

  • [ U ] Getting fresh water and food to the flood victims takes priority over dealing with their insurance claims.

• 2 something that you do or deal with first because it is more important or urgent than other things:

  • The company focuses on business priorities that make a difference: intense commitment to customer service and maintaining low costs.

  • strategic/corporate priorities

  • spending/financial/investment priorities

  • a top/number one/first priority For the Internal Revenue Service, protection of taxpayers' data is a top priority.

  • a high/clear priority Regulators, both globally and locally, need to define clearer priorities.

  • sb's priority is to do sth At the moment, our priority is to recruit high-calibre employees to supplement the existing staff.

  • make sth a priority Union representatives are anxious to make healthcare benefits a priority for their workers over the next few months.

  • identify/set/establish priorities The bank's board of directors was criticized for failing to set priorities.

  • a list/set of priorities Tackling the issue of World debt relief will be high on the list of priorities at next week's summit.

• 3 the state or fact of being the most important job or aim, compared to other jobs or aims:

  • high/low/top priority Euro MPs are now demanding higher priority for climate change policy.

  • take/have/get priority (over sth) Under certain circumstances, there may be special requirements that take priority over all others.

  • give sth priority/give priority to sth Both countries have given priority to corporate investment.

  • a priority area/sector Products across twelve priority sectors are now being traded freely between member states.