English Explanatory Dictionary

hierarchy

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A body of authoritative officials organized in nested ranks.
  2. 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.
  3. Any group of objects ranked so that every one but the topmost is subordinate to a specified one above it.

Pronunciation

/ˈhaɪ.ə.ɹɑː(ɹ).ki/ /ˈhaɪ.ɹɑː(ɹ).ki/ /ˈhaɪ.ɑː(ɹ).ki/ en-us-hierarchy.ogg

Word forms

hierarchy hierarchies

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.

Related words

hierarch hierarchic hierarchical hierarchically hierarchization hierarchize holarchy thearchy

Derived words

antihierarchy arithmetical hierarchy arithmetic hierarchy Chomsky hierarchy command hierarchy hierarchial hierarchism hierarchy of effects Kleene hierarchy Kleene-Mostowski hierarchy Lévy hierarchy phonological hierarchy polyhierarchy subhierarchy superhierarchy time hierarchy theorem
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