hierarchy

UK: /ˈhaɪərɑː^rki/

US: /ˈhaɪəˌrɑrki, ˈhaɪrɑr-/

US: (hī′ə rär′kē, hī′rär-)

Inflections of 'hierarchy' (n): npl: hierarchies

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

hi•er•ar•chy /ˈhaɪəˌrɑrki, ˈhaɪrɑr-/   n. [countable] , pl. -chies. 

1. any system of persons or things ranked one above another.
2. Religion the persons in authority or having the highest power:
   the party hierarchy.

hi•er•ar•chic/ˌhaɪəˈrɑrkɪk/  hi•er•ar•chi•cal, adj. 
hi•er•ar•chi•cal•ly, adv. See -arch-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

hi•er•ar•chy  (hī′ə rär′kē, hī′rär-), n., pl. -chies. 

1. any system of persons or things ranked one above another.
2. Religion government by ecclesiastical rulers.
3. the power or dominion of a hierarch.
4. an organized body of ecclesiastical officials in successive ranks or orders:
   the Roman Catholic hierarchy.
5. Religion one of the three divisions of the angels, each made up of three orders, conceived as constituting a graded body.
6. Religion Also called celestial hierarchy. the collective body of angels.
7. Government government by an elite group.
8. Linguistics the system of levels according to which a language is organized, as phonemic, morphemic, syntactic, or semantic.

• Medieval Latin ierarchia, variant of hierarchia
• Middle French ierarchie
• Late Greek hierarchía rule or power of the high priest, equivalent. to hier- hier- + archía -archy; replacing Middle English jerarchie
• Medieval Latin hierarchia
• 1300–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

hierarchy / ˈhaɪəˌrɑːkɪ/ noun ( -chies)

1. a system of persons or things arranged in a graded order
2. a body of persons in holy orders organized into graded ranks
3. the collective body of those so organized
4. a series of ordered groupings within a system, such as the arrangement of plants and animals into classes, orders, families, etc
5. a formal structure, usually represented by a diagram of connected nodes, with a single uppermost element
   Compare tree6
6. government by an organized priesthood

Etymology: 14th Century: from Medieval Latin hierarchia, from Late Greek hierarkhia, from hierarkhēs high priest; see hiero-, -archy

ˌhierˈarchical, ˌhierˈarchic adjective

ˈhierˌarchism noun