Precursory vs Prior - What's the difference?

Precursory is a related term of prior.

As nouns the difference between precursory and prior

is that precursory is (medicine) a precursor; a sign of the onset of something while prior is prior (high-ranking member of a monastery).

As an adjective precursory

is pertaining to events that will follow.

precursory

English

Adjective

(-)

Pertaining to events that will follow.

precursory symptoms of a fever

Of or pertaining to a precursor.

Noun

(precursories)

(medicine) A precursor; a sign of the onset of something.

prior

English

Adjective

(-)

Of that which comes before, in advance.

I had no prior knowledge you were coming.

former, previous

His prior residence was smaller than his current one.

Usage notes

The etymological antonym is (m) (from Latin) (compare (m)/(m) for “first/last”). This is now no longer used, however, and there is no corresponding antonym. Typically either (m) or (m) are used, but these form different pairs – (m)/(m) and (m)/(m) – and are more formal than prior . When an opposing pair is needed, these can be used, or other pairs such as (m)/(m) or (m)/(m).

Synonyms

* See also

Derived terms

* prior to

Adverb

(en adverb)

(colloquial) Previously.

The doctor had known three months prior .

Noun

(wikipedia prior) (en noun)

A high-ranking member of a monastery, usually lower in rank than an abbot.

* 1939 , (Raymond Chandler), The Big Sleep , Penguin 2011, p. 53:

‘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.’

(statistics) In Bayesian inference, a prior probability distribution.