Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To arrange or deal with in order of importance.
  • intransitive verb To put things in order of importance.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive, intransitive to arrange or list a group of things in order of priority or importance
  • verb transitive to rank something as having high priority

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb assign a priority to

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[priorit(y) + –ize.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From priority +‎ -ize.

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Examples

  • "I never thought I'd be using the word prioritize in my life" says

    Vh1 Blog 2010

  • One of things that we need to prioritize is to cleanse our society from this phenomenon of terrorism and all its challenges in order to save Iraq, the Iraqi wealth and the Iraqi citizens from the administrative corruption.

    CNN Transcript Apr 24, 2006 2006

  • In its report, Treasury stated that in weighing whether to exercise its option to appoint directors, it would "prioritize" institutions in part based on whether the government's investment in the bank exceeds $25 million.

    More banks missing TARP dividend payments 2010

  • So if you want video, and YouTube won't pay Verizon to provide it, then Verizon can "prioritize" other traffic.

    Rep. Alan Grayson: Verizon-Google: There's a Hard Rain Coming 2010

  • In its report, Treasury stated that in weighing whether to exercise its option to appoint directors, it would "prioritize" institutions in part based on whether the government's investment in the bank exceeds $25 million.

    More banks missing TARP dividend payments 2010

  • So if you want video, and YouTube won't pay Verizon to provide it, then Verizon can "prioritize" other traffic.

    Rep. Alan Grayson: Verizon-Google: There's a Hard Rain Coming 2010

  • Executives gave no indication of additional price cuts to those announced last month, but cautioned that they may choose to "prioritize" revenue growth over profit margins for now.

    G to Unveil Flurry of Products Ellen Byron 2010

  • And when I would start going to see shows and see bands kind of prioritize things wrong, to my mind, not prioritize the momentness of a show or not prioritize the physical experience of a show, instead prioritize making sure they don't make mistakes or prioritize trying to faithfully represent a pre-recorded piece of material, I felt like that was just wrong.

    James Murphy: The Man Behind LCD Soundsystem 2010

  • In an e-mail sent April 16, NASA's Constellation program manager, Jeff Hanley, instructed his managers to "prioritize" all the resources they have at their disposal under this year's budget to plan for test flights of prototypes of the troubled Ares I rocket that Obama aims to cancel.

    NASA Watch: Keith Cowing: April 2010 Archives 2010

  • I remember first hearing "prioritize", instead of "set priorities", and I railed against it.

    my new chair 2009

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