hierarchy

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Financial, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

hi·er·ar·chy

(hī′ə-rär′kē, hī′rär′-)

n. pl. hi·er·ar·chies

1. A group of persons or things organized into successive ranks or grades with each level subordinate to the one above: a career spent moving up through the military hierarchy.

2. Categorization or arrangement of a group of people or things into such ranks or grades: classification by hierarchy; discounting the effects of hierarchy.

3. A body of persons having authority: "his relations with Hitler and the Nazi hierarchy" (John Kenneth Galbraith).

4. A group of animals in which certain members or subgroups dominate or submit to others.

5. One of three main divisions of angels in traditional Christian angelology.

[Middle English ierarchie, from Old French, from Medieval Latin hierarchia, from Greek hierarkhiā, rule of a high priest, from hierarkhēs, high priest; see hierarch.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

hierarchy

(ˈhaɪəˌrɑːkɪ)

n, pl -chies

1. a system of persons or things arranged in a graded order

2. (Ecclesiastical Terms) a body of persons in holy orders organized into graded ranks

3. (Ecclesiastical Terms) the collective body of those so organized

4. (Biology) a series of ordered groupings within a system, such as the arrangement of plants and animals into classes, orders, families, etc

5. (Linguistics) linguistics maths a formal structure, usually represented by a diagram of connected nodes, with a single uppermost element. Compare ordering, heterarchy, tree⁶

6. (Mathematics) linguistics maths a formal structure, usually represented by a diagram of connected nodes, with a single uppermost element. Compare ordering, heterarchy, tree⁶

7. (Ecclesiastical Terms) government by an organized priesthood

[C14: from Medieval Latin hierarchia, from Late Greek hierarkhia, from hierarkhēs high priest; see hiero-, -archy]

ˌhierˈarchical, ˌhierˈarchic adj

ˌhierˈarchically adv

ˈhierˌarchism n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

hi•er•ar•chy

(ˈhaɪ əˌrɑr ki, ˈhaɪ rɑr-)

n., pl. -chies.

1. any system of persons or things ranked one above another.

2. government by ecclesiastical rulers.

3. the power or dominion of a hierarch.

4. an organized body of ecclesiastical officials in successive ranks or orders: the Roman Catholic hierarchy.

5. one of the three divisions of the angels, each made up of three orders, conceived as constituting a graded body.

6. angels collectively.

[1300–50; Middle English jerarchie < Middle French ierarchie < Medieval Latin (h)ierarchia < Late Greek hierarchía rule or power of the high priest]

Hierarchy

a body of officials arranged in ranks; each of three groups of angels; ecclesiastics, priests, or clergy, collectively.

Examples: hierarchy of angels, 1398; of being, 1875; of clergy, 1563; of concepts, 1864; of intelligence, 1875; of priests.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	hierarchy - a series of ordered groupings of people or things within a system; "put honesty first in her hierarchy of values" celestial hierarchy - the collective body of angels data hierarchy - an arrangement of data consisting of sets and subsets such that every subset of a set is of lower rank than the set taxonomy - a classification of organisms into groups based on similarities of structure or origin etc system, scheme - a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole; "a vast system of production and distribution and consumption keep the country going" series - similar things placed in order or happening one after another; "they were investigating a series of bank robberies"
	2.	hierarchy - the organization of people at different ranks in an administrative body pecking order, power structure organization, organisation - a group of people who work together governance, governing body, organisation, administration, brass, establishment, organization - the persons (or committees or departments etc.) who make up a body for the purpose of administering something; "he claims that the present administration is corrupt"; "the governance of an association is responsible to its members"; "he quickly became recognized as a member of the establishment" hierarch - a person who holds a high position in a hierarchy

hierarchy

noun grading, ranking, social order, pecking order, class system, social stratum Even in the desert there was a kind of social hierarchy.

Quotations
"We rank ourselves by the familiar dog system, a ladderlike social arrangement wherein one individual outranks all others, the next outranks all but the first, and so on down the hierarchy" [Elizabeth Marshall Thomas Strong and Sensitive Cats]
"In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence" [Laurence Peter The Peter Principle]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

مراتِب، درجات، نِظام درجات

hierarchie

hierakirangorden

Hierarchie Rangordnung

ιεραρχία

jerarquía

hierarkia

hiérarchie

hijerarhija

hierarchia

stigveldi, stigskipt kerfi

gerarchia gerarchico

hierarchijahierarchinis

hierarhija

hiërarchie

hierarki rangordning

hierarchia

aşama sırasıhiyerarşi

等级

hierarchy

[ˈhaɪərɑːkɪ] N → jerarquía f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

hierarchy

[ˈhaɪərɑː^rki] n → hiérarchie f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

hierarchy

n → Hierarchie f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

hierarchy

[ˈhaɪəˌrɑːkɪ] n (frm) → gerarchia

hierarchy

(ˈhaiəraːki) noun

(an) arrangement (of usually people in a group, also things etc) in order of rank, importance etc.

hieˈrarchical (-ˈraː-) adjective

Notice the second r in hierarchy.

References in classic literature ?

Now therefore the artful Irregular whom I described above as the real author of this diabolical Bill, determined at one blow to lower the status of the Hierarchy by forcing them to submit to the pollution of Colour, and at the same time to destroy their domestic opportunities of training in the Art of Sight Recognition, so as to enfeeble their intellects by depriving them of their pure and colourless homes.

View in context

Anna Pavlovna greeted him with the nod she accorded to the lowest hierarchy in her drawing room.

View in context

There were gods and gods, and Jerry was not long in learning that in the hierarchy of the heaven of these white-gods on the Ariel, the sailorizing, ship-working ones were far beneath the captain and his two white-and-gold-clad officers.

View in context

I refuse to make a hierarchy of human actions and ascribe worthiness to some and ill-repute to others.

You have a hierarchy of values; pleasure is at the bottom of the ladder, and you speak with a little thrill of self-satisfaction, of duty, charity, and truthfulness.

View in context

She had scarcely entered the ballroom and reached the throng of ladies, all tulle, ribbons, lace, and flowers, waiting to be asked to dance--Kitty was never one of that throng--when she was asked for a waltz, and asked by the best partner, the first star in the hierarchy of the ballroom, a renowned director of dances, a married man, handsome and well-built, Yegorushka Korsunsky.

View in context

As privates of the industrial army they are placed under the command of a perfect hierarchy of officers and sergeants.

View in context

Peter, and represents the three divine powers; the rest-ORDINES INFERIORES-of the ecclesiastical hierarchy bless in the name of the holy archangels and angels.

View in context

Round Him was an adoring hierarchy of kings, elders, and old-time Buddhas.

View in context

On good terms with des Lupeaulx, with whom in society he stood on an equality, and intimate with du Bruel, he was a living proof of Rabourdin's theory as to the steady deterioration of the administrative hierarchy in Paris through the personal importance which a government official may acquire outside of a government office.

View in context

"Our results confirm that these dogs have an age-graded dominance hierarchy similar to that of wolves," adds Dr.

Climbing the Social Ladder Is "Ruff": The middle of the pack was the toughest place to be

Other religions like Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism also reflect Hindu caste hierarchy. The different Sikh Jats normally marry within caste lines.