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prior

/ˈpɹaɪ.(ə)ɹ/
adjectiveadverbnoun

PRIOR meaning: a probability distribution set before new evidence, or a senior member of a religious house; the word scores 7 Scrabble points.

NWL Collins ENABLE Wordle answer list

Adjective 3 meanings

  1. Coming before in order or time; earlier, former, previous.

    “His prior residence was smaller than his current one.”

  2. More important or significant.

  3. Chiefly in prior probability: of the probability of an event: determined without knowledge of the occurrence of other events that bear on it, before additional data is collected.

Adverb 1 meaning

  1. Chiefly followed by to: in advance, before, previously.

    “The doctor had known three months prior.”

Noun 3 meanings

  1. 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.

  2. A previous arrest or criminal conviction on someone's criminal record.

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

Definitions: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA) via Kaikki/Wiktextract

Where it comes from

Etymology

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin prior (“earlier, former, previous, prior; in front; (figurative) better, superior”), from Proto-Italic *priōs (“earlier, previous”, literally “more before”), ultimately from *pri (“before”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pró (“leading to, toward”) and its etymon *per- (“before, in front; first”)) + *-jōs (suffix forming comparative adjectives).

Similar and opposite words

Similar
advanceantecedentanteriorearliererstwhileexforegoneformer
Opposite
posterior

PRIOR is a familiar five-letter word with more than one distinct sense. In statistics, it describes a probability distribution chosen before additional data arrives. It also names a senior religious figure, and in legal speech can refer to an earlier arrest or conviction, so the meanings share the idea of something that comes before while belonging to different contexts.

PRIOR at a glance

  • PRIOR has five letters and is accepted in Collins, NWL2023, and ENABLE.
  • Its Scrabble value is 7 points: P is worth 3, and each other tile is worth 1.
  • PRIOR is marked as both an allowed guess and an answer in Wordle.
  • The one-letter neighbors are PRION, PRIER, and TRIOR.
  • It has no anagrams; its rhymes include JUNIOR, SENIOR, and SUPERIOR.

What does PRIOR mean?

In statistics, a prior is a probability distribution determined before new data is collected. It represents an initial view before evidence about related events is taken into account. The term is common in discussions of probability and Bayesian reasoning.

Outside statistics, a prior can be a high-ranking member of a religious house or order. Legal speech uses prior as a noun for an earlier arrest or conviction. Context matters: a “prior distribution” points to statistics, while “a prior” in a record usually points to a past event.

PRIOR meaning and its 7-point Scrabble score

PRIOR scores 7 points before board bonuses. The P supplies 3 points; R, I, O, and the second R add 1 each. That modest total makes the word more about placing five useful tiles than chasing a premium score.

The repeated R is worth noticing: PRIOR uses two R tiles, and changing one letter produces the neighbors PRION and PRIER, while replacing the first letter gives TRIOR. No rearrangement of the same tiles forms another word. For sound-based clues, the shared “-ior” ending links PRIOR with JUNIOR, SENIOR, and SUPERIOR.

Rhymes with prior

All rhymes

One letter away

Change one letter, keep the rest
  • PRION7
  • PRIER7
  • TRIOR5

Questions people ask

Are there any anagrams of PRIOR?
No anagrams are listed for PRIOR. Its letters are I, O, P, and two R tiles, and the available anagram count is zero. Changing a letter instead gives close neighbors such as PRION and PRIER, but those are not rearrangements of the same tiles.
What words are one letter away from PRIOR?
PRION, PRIER, and TRIOR are the three one-letter neighbors of PRIOR. Each keeps the same five-letter shape while changing one position. They are useful candidates when a puzzle clue suggests a near-match, though they have different meanings from PRIOR.
Can you use PRIOR in Wordle?
Yes. PRIOR is marked as both an allowed guess and an answer in Wordle. Its two R letters matter when interpreting a guess: a repeated letter does not automatically mean the answer contains two copies, so use the tile feedback for each position.

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