WordWeb Online

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

Derived forms: precedencies

See also: precede, precedent

Type of: activity, earliness, high status