Meaning & use
prioritise
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To decide which things matter most and give them your attention first.
Grammar: Takes an object: prioritise tasks. It can also stand alone: you must learn to prioritise.
Patterns
- prioritise something
- prioritise something over something
You need to prioritise the urgent emails before lunch.
She learned to prioritise sleep during exams.
The council will prioritise road repairs over new parks.
verbtransitive
To treat something as more important than other things when making decisions.
Grammar: Often followed by over to show what is ranked lower.
Patterns
- prioritise A over B
The hospital prioritises patients in the greatest danger.
Some firms prioritise profit over staff welfare.
He prioritised family time over promotion.
Word forms
| third person singular | prioritises |
|---|---|
| past tense | prioritised |
| past participle | prioritised |
| -ing form | prioritising |
Common combinations
- prioritise tasks
- A good manager prioritises tasks daily.
- prioritise health
- Try to prioritise health in a busy year.
- prioritise over
- Never prioritise speed over safety.
- learn to prioritise
- Students must learn to prioritise.
- prioritise spending
- The government must prioritise spending on schools.
Synonyms and how they differ
- rank
- Rank means putting things in order, often by score, while prioritise means choosing what to do first.
- put first
- Put first is a plainer phrase and suits personal choices rather than workplace planning.
- triage
- Triage is a stricter word from medicine for sorting urgent cases, more dramatic than prioritise.
- emphasise
- Emphasise means giving special attention in speech or writing, not choosing what to do first.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: prioritise or prioritize?
prioritise vs prioritize
Prioritize is the American spelling; prioritise is the standard British form, with no difference in meaning.
Practice
With only an hour left, the team had to ___ the most urgent bugs.
Choose one answer.
Prioritise means deciding what to do first. Patronise, penalise and publicise have unrelated meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “prioritise”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.