hierarchy

CEFRC1

/ˈhaɪ.ə.ɹɑː(ɹ).ki/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A system in which people or things are ranked by importance.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    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.

Examples

  • The hierarchy of rank has long been fixed.

  • There's a very rigid hierarchy in the Civil Service.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4
Synonyms
1

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings
  1. Any group of objects ranked so that every one but the topmost is subordinate to a specified one above it.

  2. A body of authoritative officials organized in nested ranks.

More examples

In context
  • Gay men and bisexuals were blamed for the [AIDS] epidemic for much the same reason that the church hierarchy in the Middle Ages accused Jewish people of creating bubonic plague by "poisoning the wells."

  • Social defeat arises in strict social hierarchies in which the few dominate the many. Overcrowding exacerbates the many ills of social defeat within these social hierarchies based on dominance.

  • ... the surviving portions provide enough detail to outline its principal features: the hierarchy of beings to whom his liturgy was to be addressed (we previously considered Plethon's hierarchy of gods in our examination of his Summary[…]

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The social blank determines who has more power and status in the group.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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.