Precedence

//ˈpɹɛsɪd(ə)ns// noun

noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state of preceding in importance or priority. countable, uncountable

    "Family takes precedence over work, in an emergency."

  2. 2
    the act of preceding in time or order or rank (as in a ceremony) wordnet
  3. 3
    Precedent. countable, uncountable

    "Verses of probably no literary value, but illustrating a kind of rhythm, a melodic innovation that you will not find in Chaucer, though there is ample precedence in Provence"

  4. 4
    preceding in time wordnet
  5. 5
    status established in order of importance or urgency wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
anteriorityprecessionpriorityaccentaccomplishmentantecedence

Example

More examples

"The Canadian government’s guide to writing says that the role of punctuation is to clarify, and "this principle takes precedence over all precepts governing the use of individual marks of punctuation.""

Etymology

From Middle French précédence (“the state of preceding, anteriority”). Morphologically precede + -ence.

Related phrases

order of precedencepatent of precedenceprecedence effectprecedence rule

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.