hierarchy

[ hahy-uh-rahr-kee, hahy-rahr- ]

noun

, plural hi·er·ar·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. Also called celestial hierarchy. the collective body of angels.
7. government by an elite group.
8. Linguistics. the system of levels according to which a language is organized, as phonemic, morphemic, syntactic, or semantic.

hierarchy

/ ˈhaɪəˌrɑːkɪ /

noun

1. a system of persons or things arranged in a graded order
2. a body of persons in holy orders organized into graded ranks
3. the collective body of those so organized
4. a series of ordered groupings within a system, such as the arrangement of plants and animals into classes, orders, families, etc
5. linguistics maths a formal structure, usually represented by a diagram of connected nodes, with a single uppermost element Compare ordering heterarchy tree
6. government by an organized priesthood

Derived Forms

• ˌhierˈarchically, adverb
• ˈhierˌarchism, noun
• ˌhierˈarchical, adjective

Other Words From

• anti·hier·archy noun plural antihierarchies adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of hierarchy¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English jerarchie, from Middle French ierarchie, gerarchie, from Medieval Latin (h)ierarchia, from Late Greek hierarchía “stewardship of sacred rites, rule or power of the high priest,” equivalent to hier(o)- “holy, sacred” + -archía, a combining form meaning “rule”; hier(o)-, -archy

Word History and Origins

Origin of hierarchy¹

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

Example Sentences

The front organization functions both ways: as the facade of the totalitarian movement to the nontotalitarian world, and as the facade of this world to the inner hierarchy of the movement.

From Salon

That was less true, perhaps, for a significant group of Black abolitionist writers who clearly understood Jefferson’s vision as limited by his belief in a natural hierarchy of color, even as he sought to break with the feudal hierarchies of England and the Old World.

From Salon

In the years following the American and French Revolutions, when calls for liberty from England and equality among citizens still echoed across the new nation, pro-slavery thinkers in the United States had little appetite for openly associating slavery and racial hierarchy with an antiquated European medieval feudal order.

From Salon

For him, "Southern society revived the genius of medieval civilization" and even surpassed it by imposing a racial hierarchy confirmed by ideas grounded in "science."

From Salon

According to Easton, racial hierarchy in the United States followed what he called “European slavery” under “the Feudal system,” where “slaves were fixed to the soil.”

From Salon

Related Words

• pecking order
• ranking