Preference vs. Priority

Preferencenoun

The selection of one thing or person over others (with the main adposition being "for" in relation to the thing or person, but possibly also "of")

‘He has a preference for crisp wines.’;

Prioritynoun

An item's relative importance.

‘He set his e-mail message's priority to high.’;

Preferencenoun

The option to so select, and the one selected.

‘Can I keep my preferences when I upgrade to the new version of this application?’;

Prioritynoun

A goal of a person or an organisation.

‘She needs to get her priorities straight and stop playing games.’;

Preferencenoun

The state of being preferred over others.

Prioritynoun

The quality of being earlier or coming first compared to another thing; the state of being prior.

‘In bankruptcy law, a business' debt to its employees has priority over its debt to a landlord, so the employees must be paid first.’;

Preferencenoun

A strong liking or personal valuation.

Prioritynoun

A superior claim to use by virtue of being validly published at an earlier date.

Preferencenoun

A preferential bias; partiality; discrimination.

Prioritynoun

(obsolete) Precedence; superior rank.

Preferenceverb

(US) To give preferential treatment to; to give a preference to.

Prioritynoun

The quality or state of being prior or antecedent in time, or of preceding something else; as, priority of application.

Preferencenoun

The act of Preferring, or the state of being preferred; the setting of one thing before another; precedence; higher estimation; predilection; choice; also, the power or opportunity of choosing; as, to give him his preference.

‘Leave the critics on either side to contend about the preference due to this or that sort of poetry.’; ‘Knowledge of things alone gives a value to our reasonings, and preference of one man's knowledge over another's.’;

Prioritynoun

Precedence; superior rank.

Preferencenoun

That which is preferred; the object of choice or superior favor; as, which is your preference?

Prioritynoun

status established in order of importance or urgency;

‘...its precedence as the world's leading manufacturer of pharmaceuticals’; ‘national independence takes priority over class struggle’;

Preferencenoun

a strong liking;

‘my own preference is for good literature’; ‘the Irish have a penchant for blarney’;

Prioritynoun

preceding in time

Preferencenoun

a predisposition in favor of something;

‘a predilection for expensive cars’; ‘his sexual preferences’; ‘showed a Marxist orientation’;

Preferencenoun

the right or chance to choose;

‘given my druthers, I'd eat cake’;

Preferencenoun

grant of favor or advantage to one over another (especially to a country or countries in matters of international trade, such as levying duties)

Preference

In psychology, economics and philosophy, preference is a technical term usually used in relation to choosing between alternatives. For example, someone prefers A over B if they would rather choose A than B. Preferences are central to decision theory because of this relation to behavior.