Prior vs Primary - What's the difference?
prior | primary |
Of that which comes before, in advance.
former, previous
A high-ranking member of a monastery, usually lower in rank than an abbot.
* 1939 , (Raymond Chandler), The Big Sleep , Penguin 2011, p. 53:
(statistics) In Bayesian inference, a prior probability distribution.
The first in a group or series.
* Bishop Pearson
* John Locke
Main; principal; placed ahead of others.
(geology) Earliest formed; fundamental.
(chemistry) Illustrating, possessing, or characterized by, some quality or property in the first degree; having undergone the first stage of substitution or replacement.
(label) idiopathic
A primary election; a preliminary election to select a political candidate of a political party.
The first year of grade school.
A base or fundamental component; something that is irreducible.
The most massive component of a gravitationally bound system.
A primary school.
* 2001 , David Woods, Martyn Cribb, Effective LEAs and school improvement
(ornithology) Any flight feather attached to the manus (hand) of a bird.
A primary colour.
* 2003 , Julie A Jacko, Andrew Sears, The human-computer interaction handbook
(electronics) A directly driven inductive coil, as in a transformer or induction motor that is magnetically coupled to a secondary
(US) To take part in a primary election.
(US, politics) To challenge an incumbent sitting politician for their political party's endorsement to run for re-election, through running a challenger campaign in a primary election
As adjectives the difference between prior and primary
is that prior is of that which comes before, in advance while primary is the first in a group or series.As nouns the difference between prior and primary
is that prior is a high-ranking member of a monastery, usually lower in rank than an abbot while primary is a primary election; a preliminary election to select a political candidate of a political party.As an adverb prior
is previously.As a verb primary is
to take part in a primary election.prior
English
Adjective
(-)- I had no prior knowledge you were coming.
- 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 alsoDerived terms
* prior toNoun
(wikipedia prior) (en noun)- ‘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.’
primary
English
(wikipedia primary)Adjective
(en adjective)- Children attend primary school, and teenagers attend secondary school.
- the church of Christ, in its primary institution
- These I call original, or primary , qualities of body.
- Preferred stock has primary claim on dividends, ahead of common stock.
Derived terms
* primarily * primary care * primary color, primary colour * primary producer * primary research * primary school * primary sourceSee also
* first * primus inter pares * secondary (2) * tertiary (3) * quaternary (4)Noun
(primaries)- Excellence in Cities offers a further development of this approach, whereby secondary schools operate with small clusters of primaries as mini-EAZs.
- By adding and subtracting the three primaries , cyan, yellow, and magenta are produced. These are called subtractive primaries.
