prioritize meaning

prioritize means 'to arrange tasks or items in order of importance'.

prioritize :

to order, to arrange

verb

▪ We need to prioritize our tasks.

▪ We need to order our tasks.

▪ She prioritized her work last week.

▪ She arranged her work last week.

paraphrasing

▪ arrange – order

▪ organize – arrange

prioritize

Pronunciation

prioritize [praɪˈɔːrɪtaɪz]

The stress is on 'or' and sounds like 'pry-OR-i-tize'.

Common phrases and grammar about prioritize

prioritize - Common meaning

verb
to order, to arrange

Part of Speech Changes for "prioritize"

▪ prioritization (noun) – ordering by importance

▪ prioritized (adjective) – arranged by importance

Common Expressions with "prioritize"

▪ prioritize tasks – arrange tasks by importance

▪ prioritize work – arrange work by importance

▪ prioritize activities – arrange activities by importance

▪ prioritize projects – arrange projects by importance

Important examples of prioritize in TOEIC

Vocabulary examples from the TOEIC test

In TOEIC word questions, prioritize is usually used to mean assigning importance to tasks or activities.

▪You need to prioritize your work to meet the deadline.
▪You need to arrange your work by importance to meet the deadline.

Example of a confusing word: privatize (to transfer from public to private control)

▪You need to privatize your work to meet the deadline.
▪You need to transfer your work to private control to meet the deadline.
"Prioritize" means "to arrange or deal with in order of importance," and it is used correctly here to indicate the need to focus on the most important tasks first. "Privatize," on the other hand, means "to transfer from public to private ownership or control," which is irrelevant and grammatically incorrect in this context. The sentence "You need to privatize your work" does not make sense in terms of meeting a deadline. Therefore, "prioritize" is the correct choice.

Grammar examples from the TOEIC test

In TOEIC grammar questions, prioritize is used as a verb meaning to arrange by importance.

▪You should prioritize your assignments first.
▪You should arrange your assignments first.

prioritize

Idioms and fixed expressions in TOEIC

prioritize tasks

means 'arrange your tasks by importance'

▪You need to prioritize your tasks to finish on time.
▪You need to arrange your tasks by importance to finish on time.

Differences between similar words and prioritize

prioritize

,

organize

differences

prioritize is used to assign importance, while organize is to arrange systematically.

prioritize
▪We prioritized our tasks based on urgency.
▪We organized our tasks based on urgency.
organize
▪arrange
▪prioritize is used to assign importance, while arrange is used to put things in order.

prioritize

,

organize – arrange

differences

prioritize is used to assign importance, while arrange is used to put things in order.

prioritize
▪You should prioritize your tasks first.
▪arrange means to put things in a specific order.
organize – arrange
▪arrange is used to put things in a specific order.
▪arrange means to put things in a specific order.

Words with the same origin as prioritize

The origin of prioritize

prioritize comes from the Latin word 'prior', meaning 'earlier or higher in importance'.

Word structure

It has the root 'prior' (meaning earlier or higher importance) and the suffix '-ize' (which turns nouns into verbs), so prioritize means 'to assign importance'.

Words with the same origin

The root of prioritize is 'prior'. Words with the same root include priority, prerequisite, and prior.

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