primacy

From Old French primacie, from Medieval Latin primatia (“office of a church primate”), from Latin primas plus a suffix corresponding to -acy. By surface analysis, prime +‎ -acy.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪ.mə.si/, /ˈpɹɪ.mə.si/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪ.mə.si/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

primacy (usually uncountable, plural primacies)

1. The state or condition of being prime or first, as in time, place, rank, etc.

   Synonym: preeminence

   establish the primacy of something

   acknowledge the primacy of something

   assert primacy

   The court affirmed the primacy of federal law.

   He argued for the primacy of reason over emotion.

   • December 25 2016, Amruta Patil, “The book in my hand”, in The Hindu‎^[1]:

     I am reading Nick Sousanis’ PhD dissertation-as-a-comic Unflattening. It debunks the primacy of word over image in Western culture and suggests that the two are equal partners in meaning-making.

   • 2023, Simon Mays, “The Macroscopic Study of Human Skeletal Paleopathology” (chapter 2), in The Routledge Handbook of Paleopathology, Routledge, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 25–26:

     In clinical practice, the generation of diagnostic hypotheses occurs especially readily and rapidly in subdisciplines such as dermatology, where gross appearance of lesions is of particular importance diagnostically […]. The primacy of macroscopy in paleopathology means that the activation of skeletal disease scripts occurs with similar facility and rapidity when skeletal remains are examined.

2. (archaic) Excellence; supremacy.
3. (religion) The office, rank, or character of a primate, it being the chief ecclesiastical station or dignity in a national church.
   • December 2 2016, Ecumenical Patriarch points to areas of agreement with Pope, Catholic World News‎^[2]:

     Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who holds a primacy of honor in Eastern Orthodoxy, emphasized the many areas of agreement between Pope Francis and himself in response to the social concerns of the day.

4. (religion) The office or dignity of an archbishop.