Other forms: prioritized, prioritizing, prioritizes
To prioritize is to rank tasks so the most important comes first. Prioritize the work, prioritize safety, learn to prioritize.
It means ranking, and the point is that some things go down the list — a plan where everything is first is not a plan. This is the -ize spelling, standard in America and acceptable in Britain, where prioritise is also written. The word was American government jargon in 1967 and was denounced as officialese for thirty years before becoming ordinary.
1verbprioritizeTo rank tasks so the most important comes first.
“With so much homework, you need to prioritize the tasks that are due tomorrow.”
prioritize is an act of ranking.
Also accepted in games: prioritise
Priority plus -ize, coined in American official language in 1967. It was attacked as jargon for decades and is now unremarkable, which is the usual fate.
Latin
priōritās
Old French
priorite
English
priority
English, today
prioritize
From priority + -ize. 1967 as U.S. government jargon, becoming more widespread through the 1970s and ’80s, but still denounced as officialese by purists into the 1990s. priority comes from Old French priorite, from Latin priōritās. Surface analysis: prior + ity.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA