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1. Status established in order of importance or urgency
   "...its precedence as the world's leading manufacturer of pharmaceuticals"
   - precedency, priority
    
2. Preceding in time
   - priority, antecedence, antecedency, anteriority, precedency
    
3. The act of preceding in time or order or rank (as in a ceremony)
   - precession, precedency

Sounds like: precedents

Derived forms: precedences

See also: precede, precedent, precedential

Type of: activity, earliness, high status

Encyclopedia: Precedence