hierarchy
/ˈhaɪ.ə.ɹɑː(ɹ).ki/ noun
Forms hierarchies
- noun A body of authoritative officials organized in nested ranks.
- noun A social, religious, economic or political system or organization in which people or groups of people are ranked with some superior to others based on their status, authority or some other trait.
- noun Any group of objects ranked so that every one but the topmost is subordinate to a specified one above it.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English ierarchie, jerarchie, from Old French ierarchie, jerarchie, from Late Latin ierarchia, from Latin hierarchia, from Ancient Greek ἱεραρχία (hierarkhía, “rule of a high priest”), from ἱεράρχης (hierárkhēs, “high priest”), from ἱερός (hierós, “holy”) + ἄρχω (árkhō, “to rule”), equivalent to hiero- + -archy. The H was re-added c. 1500 due to influence from Classical Latin.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Dominion or authority in sacred things.
- noun A body of officials disposed organically in ranks and orders each subordinate to the one above it; a body of ecclesiastical rulers.
Etymology [Gr. hiérarchie.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “hierarchy”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details