Under water deficit conditions, the essential macronutrient nitrogen becomes limited as a result of reduced dissolved nitrogen and root nitrogen uptake. An elevated nitrogen level might be able to mitigate these effects, integrated with the idea of using nitric oxide as abiotic stress tolerant inducers. In this study, we evaluated the potential of using elevated nitrogen priming prior to water shortage to mitigate plant stress through nitric oxide accumulation. We grew rice plants in 300 mg L?1 nitrogen for 10 weeks, then we primed plants with four different nitrogen concentrations: 100, 300 (control), 500 and 1000 mg L?1 nitrogen prior to inducing water deficit conditions. Plants primed with 500 mg L?1 nitrogen possessed a higher photosynthetic rate, relative water content, electrolyte leakage and lipid peroxidation under water deficit conditions, compared to control plants. The induction of water deficit tolerance was supported with the activation of antioxidant defense system, induced by the accumulation of nitric oxide in leaves and roots of rice plants. We originally demonstrated the accumulation of nitric oxide in leaves of rice plants. The elevated nitrogen priming can be used to enhance water deficit tolerance in irrigated paddy fields, instead of nitric oxide donors. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.