echelon

American  

[esh-uh-lon] / ˈɛʃ əˌlɒn /

noun

1. a level of command, authority, or rank.

   After years of service, she is now in the upper echelon of city officials.

   Synonyms:

   standing, class, position, rung, tier, row, office, grade, authority, hierarchy, rank, place

2. a level of worthiness, achievement, or reputation.

   studying hard to get into one of the top echelon colleges.

   Synonyms:

   tier, position, degree

3. Military. a formation of troops, ships, airplanes, etc., in which groups of soldiers or individual vehicles or craft are arranged in parallel lines, either with each line extending to the right of the one in front right echelon or with each line extending to the left of the one in front left echelon, so that the whole presents the appearance of steps.

4. Military. one of the groups of a formation so arranged.

5. Archaic. any structure or group of structures arranged in a steplike form.

6. Also called echelon grating.  Spectroscopy. a diffraction grating that is used in the resolution of fine structure lines and consists of a series of plates of equal thickness stacked in staircase fashion.

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verb (used with or without object)

1. to form in an echelon.

echelon British  

/ ˈɛʃəˌlɒn /

noun

1. a level of command, responsibility, etc (esp in the phrase the upper echelons )

2. military

   1. a formation in which units follow one another but are offset sufficiently to allow each unit a line of fire ahead

   2. a group formed in this way

3. physics a type of diffraction grating used in spectroscopy consisting of a series of plates of equal thickness arranged stepwise with a constant offset

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verb

1. to assemble in echelon

Pop Culture

—Row echelon form: In linear algebra, a simplified form of a matrix in which each non-zero row has more leading zeros than the previous row. —ECHELON: Code name of a global surveillance system developed by the United States National Security Agency (NSA). It operates by intercepting and processing international communications transmitted via communications satellites. —Third Echelon: A fictional sub-group of the NSA created by Tom Clancy in his Splinter Cell book series.

Other Word Forms

• echelonment noun

Etymology

Origin of echelon

First recorded in 1790–1800; from French échelon, originally “rung of a ladder,” from Old French eschelon, equivalent to esch(i)ele “ladder” (from Latin scāla + -on noun suffix; see scale ³)

Explanation

An echelon is a stepped formation with objects arranged in a diagonal. Birds flying in a V shape create echelons so that they can draft behind each other and conserve energy — except for the guy up front, who’s super tired. Echelon patterns are often used by the military, with rows of tanks, troops, or aircraft arranged behind and to the left or behind and to the right of the row ahead. Echelon can also refer to a particular level or rank in a group or society. If you win the Olympics, you’ve reached the upper echelon of athletics. If you win a hot dog eating contest . . . Well, you reached a pretty low echelon of athletics.

Example Sentences

They improved to 5-12 against such teams after losing 12 of their last 13 games against the league’s upper echelon.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 9, 2026

Newsom is eventually taken under Getty’s wing, where he’s introduced into a new echelon of society and politics.

From Slate • Feb. 25, 2026

“Brat” catapulted Charli to a new echelon, dominating every sector of culture from music to memes to politics.

From Salon • Feb. 8, 2026

"The Bears' slow starts are going to come back to bite them, especially against the upper echelon teams - and the Rams are certainly one of those, " said Dragon.

From BBC • Jan. 16, 2026

He does not realize the attack is en echelon for a while; he thinks perhaps it is a diversion, and he will be hit on another flank.

From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara