What is a system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority?

• Top Definitions
• Quiz
• Related Content
• Examples
• British

This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.

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

/ ˈhaɪ əˌrɑr ki, ˈhaɪ rɑr- /

This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.

noun, plural hi·er·ar·chies.

any system of persons or things ranked one above another.

government by ecclesiastical rulers.

the power or dominion of a hierarch.

an organized body of ecclesiastical officials in successive ranks or orders: the Roman Catholic hierarchy.

one of the three divisions of the angels, each made up of three orders, conceived as constituting a graded body.

government by an elite group.

Linguistics. the system of levels according to which a language is organized, as phonemic, morphemic, syntactic, or semantic.

Origin of hierarchy

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”; see hier(o)-, -archy

historical usage of hierarchy

Hierarchy comes ultimately from Greek hierarchía “stewardship of sacred rites,” a derivative of hierárchēs “high priest, leader of sacred rites,” via Medieval Latin (h)ierarchia.
The Medieval Latin word originally meant “rank or dignity of a hierarch (high-ranking religious leader)” in a system devised in the late 5th or early 6th century by the mystical theologian and philosopher Pseudo-Dionysius. The Greek word hierarchía is formed from hierós “holy, dedicated to a god, sacred, strong, excellent, glorious” and a derivative of the verb árchein “to be first, begin, rule.”
The earliest occurrence of hierarchy in English dates from the late 14th century in the sense “one of the three divisions of the angels into higher and lower ranks.” This meaning was quickly extended to other supernatural entities, and finally, in the 16th century, to “rule or dominion in holy matters, rule or government by priests, a system of ecclesiastical rule.” The sense “a group of people, plants, animals, or things ranked in grades, orders, or classes” dates from the 17th century.

OTHER WORDS FROM hierarchy

an·ti·hi·er·ar·chy, noun, plural an·ti·hi·er·ar·chies, adjective

Words related to hierarchy

How to use hierarchy in a sentence

• However, if you begin to look carefully at sentences, what you find is that they are organized in this hierarchy.

• Forbes was generally a pretty platooned place, and there was a hierarchy and knowledge was exchanged very judiciously in the ranks.

• Usually, at some point below board level, someone in the hierarchy doesn’t have time to think purely about organic non-brand clicks.

• Upfronts upendedAs the playing field levels between the TV companies and the streaming platforms, the hierarchy for upfront negotiations has the potential to be upended.

• We try to understand the ways in which hierarchies are created and maintained.

• Copies of the letter were sent to senior members of the church hierarchy and to the Soviet government.

• Absolutely: “Courage I would rank now in the hierarchy of art and love.”

• It was, I have to say, at the bottom of the hierarchy of royal honors, a British Empire Medal.

• Information received from the different branches of the ISIS network is channeled up through a strict hierarchy.

• A strong sense of hierarchy took root as the schools expanded.

• Later still, for the same reason, when he was making his hierarchy stronger, he created him one of his new Dukes.

• Under a Philippine hierarchy there would be a danger of the natives reverting to paganism and fetichism.

• As our oldest member used to say, "A society without a hierarchy is like a house without a staircase."

• This hierarchy of all feudal seigniories existed in name only, never in fact.

• Without sifting the nature of Beauty, without giving some definition of it, nobody can attempt to construct a Hierarchy of Art.

noun plural -chies

a system of persons or things arranged in a graded order

a body of persons in holy orders organized into graded ranks

the collective body of those so organized

a series of ordered groupings within a system, such as the arrangement of plants and animals into classes, orders, families, etc

linguistics mathsa formal structure, usually represented by a diagram of connected nodes, with a single uppermost elementCompare ordering, heterarchy, tree (def. 6)

government by an organized priesthood

Derived forms of hierarchy

hierarchical or hierarchic, adjectivehierarchically, adverbhierarchism, noun

Word Origin for hierarchy

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