hierarchy
Pluralhierarchies
- 1A social, religious, economic, or political system in which people or groups are ranked, with some placed above others based on status, authority, or another trait.
Feudal society rested on a rigid hierarchy that placed kings above lords and peasants below.
Within the church hierarchy, bishops rank above ordinary priests.
- 2A group of objects ranked so that every one except the topmost is subordinate to a specific object directly above it.
File systems organize data into a hierarchy of folders, each nested within another.
The taxonomic hierarchy ranks each category beneath the broader group that contains it.
Similartree
Note
The abstract shape behind the other senses, where the ranked things need not be people: Plethon's hierarchy of gods, a taxonomy, a file system. Its rule is stricter than the social sense. Every member except the single root answers to exactly one member above it, so the structure branches like a tree. In the phrase a hierarchy of followed by a plural noun, the noun names what is being ranked.
- 3A body of officials holding authority, organized in ranks nested one within another.
The party's hierarchy met behind closed doors to choose a new leader.
Within the civil service hierarchy, each official answers to the rank above.
Similarleadership, establishment, bureaucracy
Note
A word that began in the temple: Greek hierarkhía, "rule of a high priest," built from hierós "holy" and árkhō "I rule." The church hierarchy is still a natural phrase, but the word now covers any ranked body of officials, from Washington's to a party's. With the, it names the people at the top as a group (the hierarchy met, the hierarchy accused) rather than the ranked social order they sit in.
Practice
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Origin
It comes from Ancient Greek ἱεραρχία (hierarkhía, 'rule of a high priest'), from ἱεράρχης ('high priest'), itself from ἱερός ('holy') plus ἄρχω ('I rule'). The word passed through Latin and Old French into Middle English, and the H was re-added around 1500 under the influence of Classical Latin.