prior to
prep. phr..prep. phr.. before a specific time or event. You use this in more formal writing or speech to show that one thing happened first.
prep. phr.. a formal prepositional substitute for 'before', indicating temporal precedence. It functions as a compound preposition followed by a noun phrase or a gerund.
Please arrive at the airport two hours prior to your flight.
Prior to joining the company, she worked as a freelance consultant for several years.
The researchers conducted a series of preliminary interviews prior to launching the full-scale longitudinal study across three continents.
used primarily in formal, professional, or academic contexts rather than casual conversation.
encourage students to use this in formal emails or reports to vary their vocabulary, but warn them that using it in a pub or with friends can sound overly stiff.
prior than the meetingprior to the meetingthe word 'prior' must always be followed by the preposition 'to', never 'than'.