top-down

[ top-doun ]

adjective

1. relating to, originating with, or directed by those of highest rank:

   a centralized, top-down organization with a chain of command reporting up from every corner of the earth.

2. organized or proceeding from the larger, more general structure to smaller, more detailed units, as in processing information:

   Top-down investing looks at the big picture, or how the overall economy drives the markets, and then focuses on individual stocks.

3. Computers. noting or relating to a methodology used in the design and coding of programs that takes a high-level description of a problem and successively breaks it into smaller and simpler subunits.

top-down

adjective

1. controlled, directed, or organized from the top

Word History and Origins

Origin of top-down¹

First recorded in 1940–45; 1970–75 top-down fordef 3; adjective use of the adverb phrase “from the top down ”

Example Sentences

And while newer studies had started to describe conscious top-down mechanisms, no specific brain circuits were discovered until the Salk team took a crack at the case.

From Science Daily

Aonuma says that he thought it "might be close to impossible" to make a new entry adding new elements to the top-down style of earlier Zelda titles.

From BBC

With Trump, he says, “the direction would be top-down - he will go straight to Tehran and from there, try to sort out all the different prongs and theatres throughout the Middle East”.

From BBC

Border control is largely concentrated on the borders themselves, and one evolution of the policy over the last 40 years or so has been this top-down deregulation of immigration authority to local enforcement.

From Salon

Countering such top-down moves will require intensive grassroots organizing.

From Salon