(priorities)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
If something is a ~, it is the most important thing you have to do or deal with, or must be done or dealt with before everything else you have to do.
Being a parent is her first ~...
The government’s ~ is to build more power plants...
N-COUNT
2.
If you give ~ to something or someone, you treat them as more important than anything or anyone else.
The school will give ~ to science, maths and modern languages...
PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR to n
3.
If something takes ~ or has ~ over other things, it is regarded as being more important than them and is dealt with first.
The fight against inflation took ~ over measures to combat the deepening recession...
PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR over n