Reprioritize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To change the order in which tasks or goals are ranked by importance
2. To rearrange priorities to give different tasks or objectives more or less importance
3. To alter the ranking of activities or issues according to a new sense of urgency or relevance

Etymology: "Reprioritize" is a plain formation: the prefix "re-", meaning "again" or "anew," attached to "prioritize." That verb is itself a modern English creation, built from "priority," which entered English in the 1600s from Medieval Latin "prioritas," from Latin "prior," meaning "former" or "earlier." So a priority was originally something that came first in time or sequence, and the notion of ranking tasks by importance grew out of that sense of precedence. The prefix "re-" traces back through Latin "re-" to a very old root that is also the source of the Old French "re-" and the Middle English "re-" that English speakers used freely to create new verbs. Once English had "prioritize," adding "re-" was a natural step, producing a word for the act of rearranging an existing order of precedence.

Synonyms: rearrange, reorder, adjust