A priory is a house where a group of monks or nuns live together and follow a religious rule. It is a kind of monastery, but a smaller and less important one than an abbey. An abbey is the big house, often with an abbot or abbess at the top; a priory is lesser, and the person in charge is a prior (a man) or a prioress (a woman). You meet this word in British history, in church talk, and in place names: many old buildings are still called The Priory even when nobody religious lives there. Though actually, that is often the point — the house outlived the community, and the name stuck. People do not use priory for an ordinary home, school, or hotel unless they are talking about that old religious past. It is a history-and-church word, not everyday talk.