second/third priority

I found a sentence in the COCA, which was from U.S. Catholic (a magazine):

The second priority is simplicity of life, an evangelical asceticism, which means manual work. If I speak with Muslims, I would call it the " lifestyle of the prophets. " In the Quranic tradition, most of the prophets were shepherds: David and Moses, for example. Jesus was the good shepherd, and Muhammad was a shepherd in his younger days. The third priority is hospitality.

I know top/first priorities are the most important things to do. When I encountered 'second priority', I was a little surprised, let alone 'third priority.'
Since priorities are the most important things to do, a second priority is not a priority any more.

Do you use the phrases often?

THank you.

We can rank things in order of priority. One thing may have higher priority than another. So we can say high priority, and lower priority etc. Or, as in the example where there are several priorities, we can number them.

Hello.

I have never had reason to use these terms. However, in a situation where actions have equal importance I could understand the need to enumerate them.

My first priority in choosing a flight is that it have a schedule that meets my needs.

Among several flights with acceptable schedules, my second priority is that it have a low fare.

If several flights have acceptable schedules and low fares, my third priority is that it should be on an airline whose frequent flyer credits I can use.

I might have a fourth priority, and in some cases, even a fifth or sixth.

prudent260 said:

Since priorities are the most important things to do, a second priority is not a priority any more.

No. You are using one meaning of "a priority". What you call "a priority" is actually "a high priority action item". Priorities include "most important", "almost as important", "less important", "not very important" etc.

The idea behind the word "priority" is that you can order them. You can say "A has a higher priority than B." which means "A is more important than B".

Thank you, everyone, for valuable responses. 👁 Smile :)
👁 Idea :idea: