prior

1. (Bayesian statistics) A prior probability distribution, that is, one determined without knowledge of the occurrence of other events that bear on it, before additional data is collected.Antonyms: posterior#Noun

2. (Bayesian statistics) A prior probability distribution, that is, one determined without knowledge of the occurrence of other events that bear on it, before additional data is collected.Examples: "During each of these touchpoints, I'm asking myself where and how my thesis on each holding could be wrong. I'm checking each data point as it comes in against my priors. I'm comparing management behavior to what I would be doing if I were in their shoes."; "The votes are in, and our priors are confirmed. The truth is that midterms are nearly as predictable as death and taxes: The party that controls the White House always loses and often badly at that."Antonyms: posterior#Nounbroadly

3. (Canada, US, law enforcement, chiefly in the plural) A previous arrest or criminal conviction on someone's criminal record.Examples: "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."Synonyms: antecedentCanadaUSin-plural

1. (Christianity) A high-ranking member of a religious house or religious order.Examples: "It is not yet an hundred yere a goe, ſince that ſame mayſter doctour was butler in the ſame houſe, whereof I was maiſter and praiour: […]"Synonyms: dean, provost

2. (Christianity) A high-ranking member of a religious house or religious order.

3. (Christianity) A high-ranking member of a religious house or religious order.

4. (Christianity) A high-ranking member of a religious house or religious order.

5. (Christianity) A high-ranking member of a religious house or religious order.Examples: "[I]t hath appertained to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York for the space of four hundred years or thereabouts to have spiritual jurisdiction over all your Grace's subjects dwelling within the provinces; […] in the meantime of vacation the same privilege resteth in the churches of Canterbury and York; and is executed by the prior, dean and chapter of the said churches; […]"

6. (historical)Examples: "[F]irſt of all among themſelves of the ancienteſt they chuſe three heads or chiefs vvhich they call Priors; and alſo of the youngeſt among them they chuſe tvvo vvho perform the office of Secretaries. The Priors ſit dovvn, having before them a table upon vvhich are placed tvvo balloting boxes of that ſort that are uſed in the Great Council; in one of vvhich are put 40 balls, marked vvith a certain mark, that no deceit may be uſed. The reſt of the 41 ſit alſo dovvn, each vvhere he pleaſes. […] Then they are called one by one before the three Priors, and each one vvrites in his Schedule the name of him vvhom he vvould have to be Duke, and leaves it upon the table."historical