1. Earlier in time
   "Her prior experience in marketing made her an ideal candidate";
   - anterior

1. The head of a religious order; in an abbey the prior is next below the abbot
   "The prior oversaw the daily operations of the monastery"
    
2. (statistics) the probability distribution of a variate before any new data is known
   "In Bayesian inference, the choice of prior can significantly affect the posterior distribution"
    
3. (law) a previous recorded criminal offence
   "The defendant's prior was taken into consideration during sentencing"

Sounds like: prier, pryer

Derived forms: priors

See also: antecedent

Type of: distribution, probability distribution, statistical distribution, superior

Encyclopedia: Prior, Michael