priority

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Precedence, especially established by order of importance or urgency.
2. n. An established right to precedence.
3. n. An authoritative rating that establishes such precedence.
4. n. A preceding or coming earlier in time.
5. n. Something afforded or deserving prior attention.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The state of being prior or antecedent, or of preceding something else: as, priority of birth: opposed to posteriority.
2. n. Precedence in place or rank; the having of certain rights before another.
3. n. In law, a precedence or preference, as when one debt is paid in priority to others, or when an execution is said to lose its priority by the neglect of the party to enforce it.
4. n. Apriority. Synonyms Priority, Antecedence, Precedence, Preëminence, Predominance, Preference, Superiority, Supremacy. Priority is the state or fact of coming first in order of time; what little use it has beyond this meaning is only a figurative extension. Antecedence is strictly priority, without any proper figurative use. Precedence may mean priority, but generally means the right to go or come first, the privilege of going before another: as, the question of precedence among sovereigns or ambassadors makes great trouble, because the dignity of the nations represented is supposed to be at stake. Preeminence is, figuratively, height by nature above all others, generally in some one respect: as, the preeminence of Shakspere as a dramatist. Predominance is superior and dominating power or influence: as, the predominance of a certain faction; figuratively, the predominance of light or shade or a particular color in a certain picture. Preference is the putting forward of a person or thing by choice, on the ground of worthiness, or on account of the taste, fancy, or arbitrary will of the one preferring: as, to give the preference to Milton over Dante. Superiority may refer to nature or to given or achieved position over others; it differs from supremacy as the comparative differs from the superlative degree: as, the superiority of the appearance of certain troops; the superiority of the dairy-products of a certain region: superiority to one's circumstances; supremacy on the land and supremacy on the sea do not always go together. See previous.

Wiktionary

1. n. An item's relative importance.
2. n. A goal of a person or an organisation.
3. n. taxonomy, of a name A superior claim to use by virtue of being validly published at an earlier date.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The quality or state of being prior or antecedent in time, or of preceding something else.
2. n. Precedence; superior rank.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. preceding in time
2. n. status established in order of importance or urgency